MACON, Ga. — According to a Johns Hopkins University study, Black students who had at least one black teacher by third grade were 13% more likely to enroll in college.
Macon's St. Peter Claver Catholic School says they've worked to diversify their teaching staff from pre-K to eighth grade.
The Catholic school is small but school leaders say they have 10 Black teachers and eight white teachers. That includes an after-school co-director, a reading/math specialist and an instructional director.
The National Center for Education Statistics says about one out of six teachers in Georgia are Black. Sandra Davis-Johnson teaches fourth-grade reading, language arts and 2nd- to 5th-grade religion at St Peter Claver.
She says representation in the classroom matters because it helps the students shape their own identity.
"Having gender or race representation in the classroom allows the student to be able to have an example and to see into the future as to what success looks like and how success is possible and attainable," Davis-Johnson said.
Davis-Johnson has over 40 years of teaching experience.
She says she wanted to help kids with learning disabilities do well in school, and she also spent 10 years teaching boys with autism.
According to the Georgia Department of Education, Georgia has over 114,800 teachers who teach about 1.6 million students daily. Research out of John Hopkins also shows students who had two Black teachers were 32% more likely to go to college.
We reached out to Houston and Bibb County School District to ask about the number of Black teachers in their district. Houston County reported having a total of 2,409 certified employees. A total of 636 certified employees identified as Black and 1,692 identified as white.
"It allows the students to shape their image and their imagination for the future," Davis-Johnson said.
Kiffany Stubbs is a part of the after-school tutoring program at St.Peter Claver and is currently subbing for a third-grade class. She started at the private school two years ago.
Her mom is a retired educator in the Bibb County School District. Originally wanting to be a hair stylist, she switched to a business degree and took education classes after not finding a business job.
She says she has more than 20 years of teaching experience. She says her favorite grade to teach is middle school. When she was growing up, she had a majority of Black teachers. She says her mom felt reassured knowing the teachers had the same skin tone as her.
"They would feel very comfortable talking to her to let her know how I was doing in school and it was a big constant communication," Stubbs said.
Stubbs says working with parents and students allows her to build a close relationship with her students and give them the best education possible.