Why?
The Challenge
Educators of color often walk into schools where they are outnumbered, unsupported, and undervalued. They leave at disproportionately high rates, and when they go, students lose.
What’s at Stake
A Black student with one Black teacher in elementary school is 13% more likely to enroll in college. With two, that jumps to 32% (Gershenson et al., 2018). Research also points to a spillover effect (Grissom et al., 2023): Black educators improve the effectiveness of their white peers, resulting in increasing the achievement of the Black students taught by those peers.
The benefit isn’t limited to matched-race outcomes. A diverse educator workforce builds the cross-cultural understanding and broader perspective every student needs. This isn’t a niche issue. It’s a student achievement imperative.
What the Research Shows (Learning Policy Institute, 2026)
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Black teachers leave the profession at rates more than 20% higher than white teachers.
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Three in four teachers who leave do so for preventable reasons: leadership, job, and workplace satisfaction.
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Districts spend $12,000–$25,000 every time a teacher leaves. A district losing 10 teachers a year spends $120,000–$250,000.
Black educators are well documented, but emerging research, including Support and Retain Educators of Color (Gabbadon, 2023), shows similar patterns among Latino, Asian American, Indigenous, and other educators of color.
Retention is a leadership problem, and a solvable one
Affirming Schools draws on years of research and vetted work in the field. It rests on one belief: retention is not an HR problem. It is a leadership problem.
Affirming Schools Services
01 | Evidence-Based Leadership Professional Development
We provide evidenced-based professional development for district and building leaders, leadership teams, and teacher leaders grounded in Dr. Gabbadon’s book, Support and Retain Educators of Color.
Past sessions include: The Case for Teacher Diversity: What the Research Says;
Know Yourself, Lead Better: Reflection as a Leadership Practice; and High-Impact Support: Instructional Practices That Retain Educators of Color.
Can be bundled with small group and individual leadership coaching.
Available formats:
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Keynotes
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Summer intensive (two full-day sessions)
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Half-year partnership (3 sessions, 2 hours each)
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Full school year partnership (6 sessions, 2 hours each)
02 | Direct Affinity Groups Facilitation
Affinity groups are one of the highest-leverage, lowest-cost investments a district can make in retention. We handle the design, facilitation, and structure. You bring the educators.
95%+ of participants in Affirming Schools affinity groups report a sense of belonging, social connectedness, and mattering. Across the county, participating educators of color in the regional retention initiative were retained at 94% year over year, compared with a baseline of 85%. In charter schools, where the baseline was 77%, 100% of participating educators stayed in their schools.
Sessions are structured and evidenced-based. Past sessions include Naming Our Experiences, Navigating Bias & Microaggressions, and Storytelling for Empowerment and Change.
Available formats:
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Half-year partnership (3 sessions, 2 hours each)
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Full school year partnership (6 sessions, 2 hours each)
03 | Facilitator Training & Capacity Building
We train your staff to design, launch, sustain, and evaluate affinity groups independently so the work takes root in your district and grows. This is the investment that compounds: one cohort of trained facilitators can reach hundreds of educators for years to come.
Past sessions include: Building a Space for Collaboration and Belonging, Conceptualizing Leadership as an Affinity Group Facilitator, Centering Self and Collective Care, and Skillful Facilitation.
Can be bundled with small group and individual leadership coaching.
Available formats:
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Summer intensive (two full-day sessions)
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Half-year partnership (3 sessions, 2 hours each)
-
Full school year partnership (6 sessions, 2 hours each)
Let's build something that works for your team.
If you're ready to strengthen leadership, support your staff, or invest in retention, the first step is a conversation. Send us a message and we'll follow up directly.