About

Rise to the Occasion

Our Purpose

Man Up’s purpose is to recruit, train and place a talented pipeline of men of color who can be impactful in any school setting and to work relentlessly to ensure the success of all students. Man Up Teacher Fellows will have an opportunity to obtain licensure, earn a Master’s of Education and become certified in Educational Leadership in at no cost. Man Up Teacher Fellowship is a 5 year program.

The Need

Man Up Teacher Fellowship fills in a distinct void in the teacher development and recruitment pipeline:

Did you know:

Black men make up less than 2% percent of the nation’s teachers.
Low-income black students who have at least one black teacher in elementary school are significantly more likely to graduate from high school and consider attending college.
From 2002 to 2012, the number of black teachers in nine major cities across the U.S. declined – in some cases at startling rates – ranging from a 15% decrease in New York to a 62% decrease in New Orleans.
According to Hickling (2017), there are three primary reasons men don’t teach: (1) low status, (2) low pay, and (3) fear of false accusations

A Message from the Founder

The enormity of the data that suggests a need for more effective male teachers of color in our schools is the propeller behind this movement.

As the founder of Man Up, this movement reflects my personal life experiences. As an African American elementary teacher, I was often one of a handful of male teachers in the building. I was often assigned the most difficult students who were usually male students with behavior problems.

Often single mothers would request their son be placed in my classroom “because he needed a man in his life”. These requests were made without any knowledge of my effectiveness as a teacher but only with hopes that a positive male presence would somehow impact their sons’ lives.

There is little research supporting this claim; however, there is endless research on the positive impact of mentoring and also on the positive impact of knowledgeable teachers.

-Patrick Washington