A fraternity brother from Virginia State University convinced William to follow his passion for teaching children. He was majoring in political science and planned to be a lawyer at the time. Yet his heart had always been in education. “My mother taught children in kindergarten through second grade, so education was in my blood,” he says, “and I worked as a substitute teacher for a while after finishing college. Then my fraternity brother urged me to stop running away from the field that gave me a sense of purpose. So, I went back to Virginia State and earned a degree in early childhood special education.”
It was also a way to combine his interest in political science with his love for the education field. “When I studied political science,” he says, “a lot of my class work dealt with education issues like the inequities of teacher preparation programs and the overrepresentation of Black boys in special education programs”—problems he now addresses as director of My Brother’s Teacher at the University of Washington College of Education.
The mission of my Brother’s Teacher is to increase the number of Black and brown early childhood teachers through an innovative fellowship program. The program aims to bring diversity to the early childhood field by recruiting male high school students of color and having them complete college coursework in early childhood education. Young men accepted into the program receive 60 service-learning hours and ongoing mentorship for their work. In addition, the program provides fellows, as it calls the students, with continued support to earn college degrees.
Many of the young men who William supports faced challenges in their early years, as William knows. And he attributes it to the teaching representation gap in our schools. “We know that 80 percent of the country’s teachers are white women, but over 50 percent of school-aged kids are children of color, and most are Black and Latinx,” he explains. “Teachers often don’t know how to be culturally responsive to their students of color. And as a result, conscious and unconscious bias is present in classrooms every day. Statistically speaking that means you have more young Black learners being disciplined and put in special education though they don’t really need it,” an issue that’s concerned him as an adult.
Still, in his early years, William had the fortune to escape the bias that Black boys often face. “As a boy in the eighties, I knew what racism was,” he says, “but I was guarded from it because of my mother’s role in the community where we lived. I grew up in Virginia, and she was a teacher in the school I attended from kindergarten to fifth grade. Then when I went to another school, all my teachers there knew who my mother was. So, if I ever had a problem, they would call her, and she would resolve the issue.”
That didn’t stop William from struggling in high school since his teachers often failed to give him the stimulation and encouragement that he needed to reach his promise. “Honestly, I was not a great student at the time,” he admits. “And when I look back on my high school years, I realize what the problem was: I was bored,” he says. At the same time, he was bright, as he went on to show by earning his college degree and ultimately his Ph.D. at the University of Washington College of Education.
Now he teaches early learning courses at North Seattle College in ways that make learning exciting for students. “My goal is to make sure they get a wide range of experiences,” he says, “so my students don’t just sit there and hear me speak. I bring in researchers from across the country and give students the chance to see other people of color who are professors. I bring in people who work on federal policy, so my students can have role models to make them dream big. And I try to make my curriculum relevant to my students, so they see that learning can be fun.”
Some of the students he teaches at North Seattle College are part of My Brother’s Teacher, which he started three years ago while doing his doctoral work in early childhood special education. The program is a collaboration among the University of Washington College of Education, North Seattle College, Seattle Preschool Program and Seattle Public Schools, William explains. “We have cohorts of 30 students who are fully funded to complete their bachelor’s at North Seattle College and then move on to the University of Washington for their master’s in education. We also support the fellows in earning the Child Development Associate® (CDA) Credential™, which allows them to earn college credits while they’re still in high school. And I see my role as breaking down roadblocks for Black male teachers to rise in the education profession.”
So, he strives to give the fellows every type of support they need during college and while they’re applying for jobs. “Besides finding them scholarships, we provide them with laptops and blazers they can wear while interviewing for work,” he says. “And our mentorship extends beyond their professional lives. We also give them mental health support by having a therapist on call 24/7. So, if a fellow has a personal crisis or just needs someone to talk to, I’ll call up the therapist and set up sessions for the fellow to discuss his struggles.”
And all the support the young men receive has made the program a huge success, William is pleased to see. “We have students who have successfully graduated from college. We have students who have earned master’s degrees and are now special education teachers, a field of particular interest to William since he spent 10 years teaching special ed classes for elementary school children. And while doing that, he realized that many of the young students didn’t really belong in his class.
“I remember having fifth-grade children brought to me by teachers who complained that the children caused problems and couldn’t learn,” William says. “Yet after being in my classroom for a while, they passed the state assessment tests for mainstream students. They weren’t even eligible to take the tests. But I lobbied for them to take the tests and gave them extra coaching. As a result, the students exceeded what any of the other teachers ever expected of them.”
Many teachers have especially low expectations for Black boys, William explains. “So, the boys are constantly mislabeled as out of control or having ADHD.” And the solution, as he points out, is to have more Black teachers. “Research shows that Black children who have one Black teacher by third grade are less likely to be suspended and to be put in special education. They’re also more likely to graduate college.” So, William is committed to giving the children a fair shot at success by increasing the pool of Black male teachers. And he has opened doors for young Black men like Elijah who never considered a career in education.
“Elijah,” as William recalls, “had been home babysitting his sister during the pandemic when his mom told him about My Brother’s Teacher. At the time, he wasn’t sure if he even wanted to attend college, but he joined our program and wound up sticking with us. He joined my classes at North Seattle College and now he has a full-time job teaching special needs children at the University of Washington. He finished college without any debt, thanks to our program, and now he’s thinking about getting a master’s degree.”
Watching young men like Elijah succeed makes William feel he has succeeded. So, he takes extra steps to keep them engaged and make them see learning really can be fun. “As part of the internship,” he says, “we go to different preschools across Washington State, where we have the fellows do fun activities like building rocket ships or conducting science experiments with the children. We’ve taken over 500 people to football games. We’ve taken over 200 people to baseball games, the aquarium and the zoo. In addition, we hold monthly meetings, where our mental health counselor has spoken several times on topics that concern our fellows, like the grief some of them felt after losing family members to COVID.”
Filling so many needs for the fellows isn’t easy, William admits, especially since his program has only two full-time staff members. “We meet with potential fellows every day. We find scholarships for them, and we talk with them on the phone at night if they need help signing up for college classes. We find housing for fellows without homes, and we’re always looking for funding to keep the program going. It’s draining because applicants are pouring in and we’re going 24 hours a day,” William says. But he knows the result of his work will make all the effort worthwhile. Helping his Black brothers to become teachers will benefit young Black boys by breaking down the barriers they face.
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Andrew Davis serves as Chief Operating Officer at the Council. In this role, Andrew oversees the Programs Division, which includes the following operational functions: credentialing, growth and business development, marketing and communications, public policy and advocacy, research, innovation, and customer relations.
Andrew has over 20 years of experience in the early care and education field. Most recently, Andrew served as Senior Vice President of Partnership and Engagement with Acelero Learning and Shine Early Learning, where he led the expansion of state and community-based partnerships to produce more equitable systems of service delivery, improved programmatic quality, and greater outcomes for communities, children and families. Prior to that, he served as Director of Early Learning at Follett School Solutions.
Andrew earned his MBA from the University of Baltimore and Towson University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland – University College.
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Jan has more than 30 years in accounting and finance experience, including public accounting, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. She has held management-level positions with BDO Seidman, Kiplinger Washington Editors, Pew Center for Global Climate Change, Communities In Schools, B’nai B’rith Youth Organization and American Humane. Since 2003, Jan has worked exclusively in the non-profit sector where she has been a passionate advocate in improving business operations in order to further the mission of her employers.
Jan holds a CPA from the State of Virginia and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lycoming College. She resides in Alexandria VA with her husband and dog.
Vice President of People and Culture
Janie Payne is the Vice President of People and Culture for the Council for Professional Recognition. Janie is responsible for envisioning, developing, and executing initiatives that strategically manage talent and culture to align people strategies with the overarching business vision of the Council. Janie is responsible for driving organizational excellence through strategic talent practices, orchestrating workforce planning, talent acquisition, performance management as well as a myriad of other Human Resources Programs. She is accountable for driving effectiveness by shaping organizational structure for optimal efficiency. Janie oversees strategies that foster a healthy culture to include embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion into all aspects of the organization.
In Janie’s prior role, she was the Vice President of Administration at Equal Justice Works, where she was responsible for leading human resources, financial operations, facilities management, and information technology. She was also accountable for developing and implementing Equal Justice Works Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy focused on attracting diverse, mission-oriented talent and creating an inclusive and equitable workplace environment. With more than fifteen years of private, federal, and not-for-profit experience, Janie is known for her intuitive skill in administration management, human resources management, designing and leading complex system change, diversity and inclusion, and social justice reform efforts.
Before joining Equal Justice Works, Janie was the Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer for Global Communities, where she was responsible for the design, implementation, and management of integrated HR and diversity strategies. Her work impacted employees in over twenty-two countries. She was responsible for the effective management of different cultural, legal, regulatory, and economic systems for both domestic and international employees. Prior to Global Communities, Janie enjoyed a ten-year career with the federal government. As a member of the Senior Executive Service, she held key strategic human resources positions with multiple cabinet-level agencies and served as an advisor and senior coach to leaders across the federal sector. In these roles, she received recognition from management, industry publications, peers, and staff for driving the creation and execution of programs that created an engaged and productive workforce.
Janie began her career with Verizon Communications (formerly Bell Atlantic), where she held numerous roles of increasing responsibility, where she directed a diversity program that resulted in significant improvement in diversity profile measures. Janie was also a faculty member for the company’s Black Managers Workshop, a training program designed to provide managers of color with the skills needed to overcome barriers to their success that were encountered because of race. She initiated a company-wide effort to establish team-based systems and structures to impact corporate bottom line results which was recognized by the Department of Labor. Janie was one of the first African American women to be featured on the cover of Human Resources Executive magazine.
Janie received her M.A. in Organization Development from American University. She holds numerous professional development certificates in Human Capital Management and Change Management, including a Diversity and Inclusion in Human Resources certificate from Cornell University. She completed the year-long Maryland Equity and Inclusion Leadership Program sponsored by The Schaefer Center for Public Policy and The Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. She is a trained mediator and Certified Professional Coach. She is a graduate of Leadership America, former board chair of the NTL Institute and currently co-steward of the organization’s social justice community of practice, and a member of The Society for Human Resource Management. Additionally, Janie is the Board Chairperson for the Special Education Citizens Advisory Council for Prince Georges County where she is active in developing partnerships that facilitate discussion between parents, families, educators, community leaders, and the PG County school administration to enhance services for students with disabilities which is her passion. She and her husband Randolph reside in Fort Washington Maryland.
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