Knock before you enter: reconceptualizing retention through a women educators of color, fugitive professional development

Women Educators of Color (WEOC) are disproportionately underrepresented in the U.S. teacher workforce and have a higher turnover rate than their White counterparts. The shortage of teachers of color (TOC) and WEOC, in particular, in public schools raises questions about the efficacy of districts’ professional development retention efforts. This critical ethnographic study investigated, from the unique perspectives of women of color (WOC), the experiences of WEOC in a professional development leadership and retention program. Study findings revealed that WEOC: 1) believed in the permanence of gendered racism, 2) needed a raced, gendered, and safe fugitive space, 3) valued the program’s intergenerational mentoring and social networking, and 4) visioned retention as freedom to dream–to be whoever they chose to be inside or outside of education. In closing, recommendations are offered for school districts interested in implementing professional developments for the purpose of retaining WEOC.