Sponsoring but Sorting: Teachers, Black Student Success, and Tensions

This article examines how teachers use sponsorship to foster Black student academic success. Sponsorship is understood to be tailored, active support from influential teachers that promote academic success. The article examines a central question: “how do teachers use sponsorship to foster Black student success?” The author uses data from an ethnographic case study of high schools in a metropolitan area in the Midwest United States and draws on Critical Race Theory to inform the study. The author reconceptualizes sponsorship as a process termed sifting for success. Findings show sifting for success involves three components: (a) centering a systematic exclusion of Black people; (b) removing barriers to academic success; and (c) positioning some students as academic afterthoughts. The author details tensions that emerge as teachers use sponsorship to benefit Black students. The article concludes with a discussion of the findings and offers implications for future inquiries.