Berrien Jr., Joel (2020-04). Waiting for Bruh Man Instead of Superman: The "Invisible Tax" on Black Male Special Education Teachers. Doctoral Dissertation.
Thesis
Black male teachers comprise less than two percent of the teachers of color in education nationwide and even fewer than that teach in special education. There exists a paucity of research literature on the "invisible tax" placed upon them via the nuanced responsibilities, lived experiences, identities, and needs of Black male special education teachers nationwide. This phenomenological study incorporated critical race theory and intersectionality and sought to answer the following guiding qualitative research questions: (1) In what ways does the invisible tax levied on Black male special education teachers deter them from entering the profession? (2) What supports mitigate the taxation? Eight Black male special education teachers individually participated in a semi-structured interview and completed a fictive kinship narrative regarding their fictive kinship network. Within the fictive kinship network, members of the community are able to gain prestige, obtain status, survive, and oftentimes thrive despite the obstacles and impediments they encounter. The focus is consistently on survival of the group rather than the individual. This network also operationalizes the values of cooperation, collaboration, and solidarity in the daily, lived experiences of the recipient and the sources of social and psychological support. In an effort to provide additional analysis for my study, each participant in the study was asked to complete a fictive kinship narrative to depict their sources of informal social and psychological support or compose a brief narrative discussing their sources of informal social and psychological support. Various types of capital, funds of knowledge, and funds of identity were discussed. Results yielded seven emergent themes: nuanced responsibilities, lived experiences, specific needs, motivation, recruitment and retention, transformational leadership, and mentorship. Each theme was discussed, and a proposal to develop a Summer-long Bridge Program for Black male rising high school seniors in the State of Utah was created. The Summer-long Bridge Program will provide the participants with personal development, altruistic community service, academic excellence, and socioemotional development. In an effort to provide additional analysis for my study, each participant in the study was asked to describe their fictive kinship network. Participants were afforded a choice to either construct a fictive kinship diagram or write a fictive kinship narrative to depict their sources of informal social and psychological support or compose a brief narrative discussing their sources of informal social and psychological support. All participants chose to write a fictive kinship narrative and stated that constructing a fictive kinship diagram was too confusing to them. If the participants had chosen to construct a fictive kinship diagram, the information in displayed in the legend in Appendix C would have been utilized. Various types of capital, funds of knowledge, and funds of identity were discussed. Results yielded seven emergent themes: nuanced responsibilities, lived experiences, specific needs, motivation, recruitment and retention, transformational leadership, and mentorship. Each theme was discussed, and a proposal to develop a Summer-long Bridge Program for Black male rising high school seniors in the State of Utah was created. The Summer-long Bridge Program will provide the participants with personal development, altruistic community service, academic excellence, and socioemotional development.
