Terminating Federal Grants Threatens Investments in Educators to Support Black Students Post-COVID
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the January 6th attack on the US Capitol, BERC asked Black parents, students, educators, and community leaders for their input on how to improve education for Black students (Douglass Horsford et al., 2021). This is the first in a series exploring the Trump administration’s education policies in relation to the recommendations advanced in the BERC study.
Terminating Federal Grants Threatens Investments in Educators to Support Black Students Post-COVID
Investing in the cultivation of educators who can meet the academic, social and emotional learning needs of Black students emerged among the six priority recommendations for improving public education in the US after COVID, based on BERC’s research with Black parents, students, educators, and community members (Douglass Horsford et al., 2021).
However, less than a month after Donald Trump was inaugurated for his second term, the US Department of Education abruptly terminated more than $600 million in grants targeted at educator preparation, recruitment, and training on the grounds the funds were being used to instill “divisive ideologies” and support race-based hiring (U.S. Department of Education, 2025).
Numerous research studies corroborate the BERC study’s findings. Researchers have demonstrated that teachers who engage in culturally relevant (Ladson-Billings, 2022), responsive (Gay, 2010; Hammond, 2015) and sustaining (Paris, 2012) pedagogy promote student engagement, academic success, and critical thinking.
In addition, the benefits of social and emotional learning for social and emotional skills, academic performance, mental wellness, healthy behaviors, school climate and safety, and lifetime outcomes are supported by an array of evidence (CASEL, 2025). And the benefits to students of all races from having a Black teacher are well-documented (Bristol & Carver-Thomas, 2024).
The terminated federal grants had been awarded to districts, nonprofits, and universities across the country, in red and blue states and in urban, rural, and suburban areas. Projects funded included a teacher residency initiative in rural South Carolina aimed at preparing diverse educators for high-need subjects; professional development in culturally responsive/sustaining pedagogy for educators in Kansas and Nebraska; a program to foster community-literate teachers in the Los Angeles area; and a project to improve school leaders’ instructional leadership capacity in STEM, literacy, mathematics, and social-emotional learning in underserved communities in Tennessee.
Cuts to programs such as these threaten to stall progress on developing educators who have the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to enable Black students to thrive.
Sharp observers might have foreseen these cuts. Project 2025 called for elimination of competitive grant programs operated by the U.S. Department of Education. And the Trump Administration has been consistent in its opposition to efforts targeted to improve opportunities and outcomes for marginalized groups, which Trump labels “DEI.”
What happens next is emerging (Lieberman & Banerji, 2025). Several groups sued the Trump Administration to restore funding. Temporary wins were subsequently paused by the courts. Unfortunately, many grantees were not included in these lawsuits, and in any case federal funding has disappeared. Organizations are scrambling to find alternative sources to sustain their programs.
In this challenging context, states, schools, and nonprofits serving Black students well offer encouraging bright spots. For example, New York State’s Culturally Responsive-Sustaining education framework (2019) helps educators develop learning environments that affirm students’ identities, lift up historically marginalized voices, and bridge lines of difference. The Center for Black Educator Development plans to continue to prioritize developing the pipeline of Black educators (Siid, 2025). BERC offers professional learning sessions for teachers implementing culturally responsive Black studies curriculum in PK-12 (Hollman, 2025). In addition, researchers Jaleel and Tyrone Howard document strategies employed by two schools that “get things right” for Black students and can be replicated (2025, p. 37).
As lawsuits make their way through the courts, nurturing multiple efforts such as these will be critical to achieving the aspirations Black parents, students, teachers, and community members have for their children.
References
Bristol, T. J., & Carver-Thomas, D. (2024, May). Facing the Rising Sun: Black Teachers’ Positive Impact Post-Brown. Learning Policy Institute. https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/media/4320/download?inline=&file=Spencer_Brown_Rising_Sun_PAPER.pdf
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). (2025, January 16). What does the research say? CASEL. https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-does-the-research-say/
Douglass Horsford, S., Cabral, L., Touloukian, C., Parks, S., Smith, P. A., McGhee, C., Qadir, F., Lester, D., & Jacobs, J. (2021). Black education in the wake of COVID-19 and systemic racism: Toward a theory of change and action. Black Education Research Center. Teachers College, Columbia University. https://www.tc.columbia.edu/media/centers-amp-labs/berc/Final-BERC-COVID-Report-20July2021.pdf
Gay, G. (2018). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice (3rd ed.) Teachers College Press.
Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally responsive teaching and the brain: Promoting authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students. Corwin Press.
Hollman, D. (2025, March 24). BERC’s virtual learning series for teaching Black studies: Blog: Black Education Research Center: Teachers College, Columbia University. https://www.tc.columbia.edu/berc/blog/content/bercs-virtual-learning-series-for-teaching-black-studies.php
Howard, T & Howard, J. (2025, April 1). Defying the narrative. Educational Leadership. 82(7). https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/defying-the-narrative
Ladson-Billings, G. (2022). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American children. Jossey-Bass.
Lieberman, M. & Banerji, O. (2025, April 11). Trump cut teacher-training grants for schools and colleges. Now what? Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/trump-cut-teacher-training-grants-for-schools-and-colleges-now-what/2025/04
New York State Education Department (NYSED) (2019). Culturally responsive-sustaining education framework. NYSED. http://nysed.gov/common/nysed/files/programs/crs/culturally-responsive-sustaining-education-framework.pdf
Paris, D. (2012). Culturally sustaining pedagogy: A needed change in stance, terminology, and practice. Educational Researcher, 41(3), 93–97. DOI: 10.3102/0013189X12441244
Siid, A. (2025, February 25). The Black teacher pipeline matters regardless of trump. Word in Black. https://wordinblack.com/2025/02/black-teacher-pipeline-matters-regardless-trump/
U.S. Department of Education (2025, February 17). U.S. Department of Education cuts over $600 million in divisive teacher training grants. U.S. Department of Education. https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-cuts-over-600-million-divisive-teacher-training-grants