Strong Educators Are Rooted in Community
City Teaching Alliance’s mission is to identify, prepare, and retain exceptional career educators who are empowered and equipped to make a lasting impact on the academic and life outcomes of all learners. Central to that mission is a belief that who an educator is shapes what they can do in a classroom — and that a strong, diverse teaching force requires more than training. It requires community.
This spring, a group of our educators attended the AsEA Conference, a national gathering designed to center, uplift, and connect Asian American educators. For our Fellows, it was more than a professional development opportunity. It was a space to pause, reflect, and be fully seen.
What Is AsEA — and Why It Matters
The Asian Educators Alliance (AsEA) is an Asian affinity organization committed to creating opportunities for Asian Pacific Islander South Asian (APISA) teachers and school staff to meet, network, identify challenges they face as APISA educators, discuss strategies to address those challenges, build mentoring structures, and share ways to support APISA families in their schools.
The AsEA annual conference is the only national conference that provides a space for APISA educators in independent, charter, and public schools to professionally network, mentor one another, develop leadership within their community, and strategize around challenges faced by APISA educators and families.
That kind of intentional space directly aligns with what City Teaching Alliance works to build every day: a pipeline of culturally responsive, effective career educators who accelerate student achievement and disrupt systems of racial and socioeconomic inequity. You cannot be a culturally responsive educator without first being grounded in your own identity and supported by a community that reflects it.
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My Story is Important
In the relentless pace of teaching, reflection is often the first thing to go. AsEA gave Fellow Ayesha Shahzad (Year 3, Dallas) the room to step back — surrounded by educators who shared her lived experiences — and reconnect with her own narrative.
“I came away with the idea that my story is important,” she shared.
That clarity didn’t stay at the conference. It followed her back into the classroom, deepening her sense of purpose and reaffirming the why behind her work.
Affirmation as Professional Development
For 2023 cohort member Amy Naw, the conference delivered something she didn’t expect: a profound sense of belonging.
“It felt deeply affirming in a way I did not fully anticipate,” she said.
Being in a space intentionally built around Asian American educators created opportunities for connection that went beyond sessions and panels. It was a reminder that identity isn’t separate from practice — it is practice. How educators understand themselves directly shapes the inclusive, affirming environments they build for their students.
Representation Strengthens the Work
Ayesha and Amy’s experiences point to something the organization holds as foundational: a strong, diverse education workforce is essential to a just and thriving society. When educators have space to engage with their identities and connect with a broader community, their impact in the classroom deepens.
Educators don’t do this work in isolation. They do it as part of a larger community: one built on shared purpose, mutual support, and continued growth.
Our Commitment
We remain committed to creating pathways for our educators to engage in spaces like AsEA, because when educators feel seen and supported, they show up more fully for their students. Our work is rooted in the belief that every student deserves an excellent teacher, every excellent teacher deserves robust support, and every district deserves access to actionable solutions for their school communities. Investing in our educators’ whole selves — their identities, their communities, their sense of purpose — is how we deliver on that belief.
