Virginia's student population is getting more diverse; more than half aren't white. But the most recent statistics show just 15 percent of licensed teachers in the state are people of color. One of them is Virginia’s 2019 Teacher of the Year. Colleagues and students say Rodney Robinson is an example of the positive influence of black male teachers.

WCVE’s Yasmine Jumaa has more for Learning Curve

Rodney Robinson is teaching social studies to a group of about 10 kids. Students are reading a graphic novel about mass incarceration. He works inside Richmond’s juvenile detention facility at the Virgie Binford Education Center, a fully functioning school that serves youth, ages 10-18. The social studies curriculum is centered on juvenile justice and the prison system. Robinson worked with James Forman Jr. at Yale University to put it together. An important part of it, Robinson says, is student engagement.

Robinson: You’ve got to find that Hook. You gotta find what gets them excited.

One of Robinson’s students says graphic novels and music videos like this song by Grandmaster Flash make tough topics easier to grasp.

Student: The visuals help me learn...we could just be talking about this kind of stuff, and be writing it down but he got the books...so that got me...I’m good.

Ford: He’s the top teacher in the State.

That’s Virgie Binford Principal Ta’Neishia Ford. She recruited Robinson about three years ago. They got to know each other at Richmond’s Armstrong High School, where Robinson taught for 12 years. She says his passion and creative teaching style resonate with students.

Ford: I think it’s the heart of it. He brings current events into his classroom. He really makes the students understand and feel that they're a part of history.

The school-to-prison pipeline is an important topic for Robinson.

Robinson: I always felt there was a poverty to prison pipeline.

As he learned more about it, he recognized the role schools do play in perpetuating youth incarceration. According to a 2018 report by the Legal Aid Justice Center, black students in Virginia are about five times more likely to be suspended than their peers. In the classroom, Robinson wants to break down what it really means for students, and talk to them about their own experiences.

Robinson: Some things as simple as getting put out of class, you know, and then you get behind. Then you're truent you're out in the street, you're doing all sorts of things that aren't legal.

Specifically, Robinson says he’s seen how school resource officers can make the situation worse for students.

Robinson: They’re only trained to deal with things from a law enforcement perspective. And so that increases the number of referrals to the justice system. So, when you bring in a school resource officer, now a simple fight has turned into an assault charge...

Robinson says he wants to create alternative programs to keep youth out of the criminal justice system and wants to use his platform, as Virginia teacher of the year, to work on getting more mental health professionals in schools.

Robinson: I want school counselors, I want conflict mediators, I want restorative justice, I want people to come in and actually work with the kids and not just put a kid in handcuffs whenever there is a minor disagreement.

Robinson’s love for teaching began with his mother Sylvia who wanted to become a teacher herself, but segregation got in the way of her dream. Instead, Sylvia Robinson operated an in-home daycare.

Robinson: I always make the joke that I have about a 30 brothers and sisters because of all the kids that were in and out of my home growing up…

A student at King William County High School in the 1990s, Robinson looked up to his band director Mr. Calvin Sorrell, at the time the only male, black teacher in the district.

Robinson: I gravitated toward him because he mentored me and just showed me my place as a, a black man in America.

According to a 2016 report from the U.S. Department of Education, black male educators are rare, making up only about two percent of teachers nationwide. Virginia’s department of education doesn’t require teachers to disclose race and gender. A spokesperson for Richmond Public Schools says teachers can choose to self-report this data, but said it wasn’t readily available. WCVE has submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain it.

Dr. Ravi K. Perry, Chair of the Political Science department at Virginia Commonwealth University, says for students of color, having a teacher that looks like them matters.

Perry: When they have an instructor of color, that they are much more likely to graduate on time, to pass their standardized tests and to do very well.

A recent study found that black elementary students who had at least one black teacher were 7 percent more likely to graduate from high-school and 13 percent more likely to enroll in college, compared to those who didn’t have a black teacher.

As Rodney Robinson’s students wrap up 2018, they’re working towards a final project: they’ll write letters reflecting on their experiences leading up to incarceration, and offer advice to their younger selves and other youth in Richmond. Next month, Robinson will find out if he’s a finalist for National Teacher of the Year. It’s been almost 30 years since a Virginia teacher has won the title.

For Learning Curve, I’m Yasmine Jumaa, WCVE News.