Education Leadership Doctoral Student Highlighted by WHYY
By Josephine Mueller ’21
Current education leadership doctoral student Aliya Catanch-Bradley, who is also principal of Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary School in Philadelphia, was highlighted in a Sept. 10 article for WHYY. In the article, reporter Sojourner Ahebee asks several black educators in Pennsylvania why there are so few schools with teachers of color.
Ahebee wrote about Catanch-Bradley’s experiences becoming an educator, how she has been fighting for diversity and inclusion in her life, how she got her support from other educators she knew, and how hard she is working toward making sure there are black educators in her classrooms.
The article goes into several topics including how the integration of schools under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 had many black teachers pushed out, how black educators are trying to undo the damage, the way personal relationships are used to recruit many black educators, the support they receive, and the current challenges they face.
“It’s really important for Black and brown children to see themselves [reflected] in teaching staff,” said Cantanch-Bradley in the article. “In many schools when you start asking the question, ‘When did you have your first Black teacher?’ Many have never had one.”
