Teacher diversity is invaluable for all students. Having a teacher of color at the helm of a classroom benefits all learners, both academically and through deep and enriching social emotional connections. However, according to The White House’s fact sheet for The American Families Plan, while teachers of color can have a particularly strong impact on students of color, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that only one in five teachers are people of color, compared to more than half of K-12 public school students. That is why President Biden is calling on Congress to invest $9 billion in American teachers, addressing shortages, improving training and supports for teachers, and boosting teacher diversity.
Why teacher diversity matters
Representation in the classroom matters. Having a diverse teacher workforce connects cultures, sets high expectations, and reduces implicit bias. Far too often, students of color feel isolated, underrepresented or mistreated, which leads to lower graduation and higher dropout rates. Decades of research has demonstrated that teachers of color can help close access and opportunity gaps for students of color while being vital to the well-being of students of all races. With a teacher of color leading a classroom, students of color see themselves represented and identify with them as role models. A diverse teacher workforce not only supports a student’s academic and social and emotional outcomes, it can lead classroom students to consider becoming educators themselves.
In nearly all U.S. school districts, students of color proportionally outnumber teachers of color. The dearth of teachers of color is felt even more acutely in our male education population. Black and Latino male educators, specifically, comprise of approximately 2% each of the teaching population. Given that most U.S. children grow up with all White female teachers, and a student’s only interaction with men of color may be through the television or social media platforms, racial bias can and does develop early in life. I often ask people to think about their own personal backgrounds. Do you remember having a male teacher of color in your schooling? The answer is frequently no. The follow up question is always, how would having a male teacher of color in your classroom impacted your academic, social, and career outcomes?
Recruiting more diverse teachers
Although research and experience indicate we need a more diverse teacher workforce, educator preparation programs (EPPs), along with other alternate route programs, struggle to recruit teachers of color in proportion to the number of students of color in public schools. We must identify students of color that would make great educators at the elementary level and encourage them through leadership roles, programs that address their interest, and opportunities to support their fellow peers. We must also remind the public that teaching is a pathway to social change. We must convey teaching as more than academic instruction; it is a social justice endeavor that creates equity among people and communities and can correct the historical discrimination of our nation’s citizens of color.
To help address teaching disparities among men of color, the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE) created The Black and Hispanic/Latino Network Improvement Community (NIC), which brought together 10 member institutions to use improvement science to address the shortage crisis of Black and Hispanic/Latino learner-ready male teachers. This type of collaborative partnership provides a better understanding of the barriers to recruiting and retaining male teachers of color in educator preparation programs and uncovers potential solutions.
