The NCTQ team and I extend our sympathies to those affected by the devastation of Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
Each fall brings the continuation of many traditions—some of which I love and others that pain me. Halloween costumes, new identities, and candy? Yes to all! Pumpkin spice everything? No, thanks! And yet another school year with a teacher workforce that still lacks the diversity we know would benefit our students. Why?! We are failing to give children daily opportunities to engage with a broad spectrum of people and their identities, perspectives, and experiences; and some children see no reflection of themselves in their teachers.
In classrooms across our nation, only 20% of public school teachers identify as people of color.1111 A brand new data tool from TNTP shows that 21% of districts nationwide have NO teachers of color whatsoever. None. And only 13% speak a language other than English at home.1112
I can't help but wonder why some of these traditions persist—and I'm not just referring to the pumpkin spice takeover. Given all that we know about the positive impact that teachers of color have on student outcomes,1113 why do we still fall short of this powerful force to make a positive difference for students? And given the increasing number of multilingual students, why aren't we doubling down on our efforts to recruit and retain linguistically diverse and well-prepared teachers for multi-language learners?
While I wish I could pull a wand out of our family's Halloween costume bin and point out a singular actor who is at fault, the truth is, we all own responsibility. In addition to the challenge of recruitment, we aren't supporting Black and Hispanic teachers and multilingual teachers along their career paths in a way that keeps them in classrooms at scale.
To increase the pool of teachers of color, we need to start with children of color's experiences in school, including how they experience teachers and how they perceive teachers—which influences whether they decide they want to become teachers themselves. We also need to look at teacher prep—critical actors in contributing to (or taking away from) the diversity of the teacher workforce. Even the U.S. Congress can agree on this, as EdWeek reported. In a recent hearing hosted by the U.S. House of Representatives, witnesses called on teacher prep programs to lead efforts to recruit teachers of color through expanded mentoring and coaching programs, among other supports.
And new research provokes us to look more closely at what happens to Black and Hispanic candidates during teacher prep to identify—and plug—the leaks in the pipeline. In Tennessee, where they conducted the study, Black and white candidates declare and complete teaching programs at similar rates, but Black undergraduate program completers were 31 percentage points less likely to earn a teaching license than their white peers. Not passing the licensure test only explained half of the drop in licensure attainment. The researchers found that the majority of observed disparities between Black and white college students who completed a teaching major but did not receive certification were still unexplained. What's more, Black college grads who did receive their teaching licenses were more likely than their white peers to get jobs, reflecting the demand in the teacher workforce marketplace. This Tennessee study is a good start, but every prep program should be working to answer this question: Where do their candidates go, and why don't their Black and Hispanic candidates become teachers?
We owe these dedicated individuals full support on their path to the classroom. The results in Tennessee signal a need for teacher prep programs to do more to support Black and Hispanic candidates, especially in the latter stages of the program. Indeed, in a recent poll of parents registered to vote, 94% identified ensuring schools have well-trained teachers as the most important policy focus, second only to a concern about protecting schools from violence.
As important as it is to focus on the pipeline for teachers of color, that alone won't be of much help if they don't stay in the profession over time. That's why state and district policymakers also need to focus on retention, especially in the face of mass layoffs.
Federal emergency relief funds in the wake of the pandemic fueled a hiring spree among school districts across the country. With the end of those funds, districts are forced to lay off teachers. In a statement totally without Halloween irony, one district superintendent described her workforce as "gravely skeletal" after implementing layoffs to balance a budget no longer propped up by ESSER funds. These cuts will have an acute impact on teachers of color, given that districts' efforts to build a more diverse workforce means that Black and Hispanic teachers are more prevalent among the novice teachers. As the "last in," they are the "first out" when positions are cut, regardless of their skill or impact with students. While LIFO policies are politically palatable, they work against states' and districts' goals of diversifying the workforce, as we lose teachers of color. Leaders can stand behind those values by acting now to change policies so that layoff decisions are based on school and district needs and on teacher effectiveness rather than seniority.
As education advocates, we too can do more to keep a spotlight on the importance of diversifying the teacher workforce, advocate for policy and practice changes, and make data available to set goals and measure our impact. In December, NCTQ will release Teacher Diversity Dashboards with new data showing snapshots of state and national trends in the diversity of the teacher workforce that can be configured based on user questions. The dashboards will identify teacher prep programs leading in contributing to diversity—and highlight programs that have the opportunity to do more to attract and support diverse candidates to complete teacher prep. Additionally, the dashboards will provide raw data on all teacher preparation programs so users can download the data and do their own analyses.
Increasing teacher diversity is a powerful force to make a difference for students. NCTQ continues to seek ways to drive improvements through our research and analyses, including showcasing pioneering states, districts, and prep programs. Key resources from NCTQ include:
There is no magic Halloween spell or elixir to increase teacher diversity; we need intentional goals, sustained effort, a lot of listening, and good data. Our forthcoming Teacher Diversity Dashboards will contribute to this goal. If we can commit to increasing the diversity of our teacher workforce—and use the best available data to take action and measure our outcomes—we will see positive returns for students, teachers, and our nation.
With thanks to Sharif El-Mekki and Dominque Howse, Center for Black Educator Development; and Simone Hardeman-Jones, NCTQ Board Member and Green Light Fund, for their feedback on earlier drafts.
Each fall brings the continuation of many traditions—some of which I love and others that pain me. Halloween costumes, new identities, and candy? Yes to all! Pumpkin spice everything? No, thanks! And yet another school year with a teacher workforce that still lacks the diversity we know would benefit our students. Why?! We are failing to give children daily opportunities to engage with a broad spectrum of people and their identities, perspectives, and experiences; and some children see no reflection of themselves in their teachers.
In classrooms across our nation, only 20% of public school teachers identify as people of color.1111 A brand new data tool from TNTP shows that 21% of districts nationwide have NO teachers of color whatsoever. None. And only 13% speak a language other than English at home.1112
I can't help but wonder why some of these traditions persist—and I'm not just referring to the pumpkin spice takeover. Given all that we know about the positive impact that teachers of color have on student outcomes,1113 why do we still fall short of this powerful force to make a positive difference for students? And given the increasing number of multilingual students, why aren't we doubling down on our efforts to recruit and retain linguistically diverse and well-prepared teachers for multi-language learners?
While I wish I could pull a wand out of our family's Halloween costume bin and point out a singular actor who is at fault, the truth is, we all own responsibility. In addition to the challenge of recruitment, we aren't supporting Black and Hispanic teachers and multilingual teachers along their career paths in a way that keeps them in classrooms at scale.
To increase the pool of teachers of color, we need to start with children of color's experiences in school, including how they experience teachers and how they perceive teachers—which influences whether they decide they want to become teachers themselves. We also need to look at teacher prep—critical actors in contributing to (or taking away from) the diversity of the teacher workforce. Even the U.S. Congress can agree on this, as EdWeek reported. In a recent hearing hosted by the U.S. House of Representatives, witnesses called on teacher prep programs to lead efforts to recruit teachers of color through expanded mentoring and coaching programs, among other supports.
And new research provokes us to look more closely at what happens to Black and Hispanic candidates during teacher prep to identify—and plug—the leaks in the pipeline. In Tennessee, where they conducted the study, Black and white candidates declare and complete teaching programs at similar rates, but Black undergraduate program completers were 31 percentage points less likely to earn a teaching license than their white peers. Not passing the licensure test only explained half of the drop in licensure attainment. The researchers found that the majority of observed disparities between Black and white college students who completed a teaching major but did not receive certification were still unexplained. What's more, Black college grads who did receive their teaching licenses were more likely than their white peers to get jobs, reflecting the demand in the teacher workforce marketplace. This Tennessee study is a good start, but every prep program should be working to answer this question: Where do their candidates go, and why don't their Black and Hispanic candidates become teachers?
We owe these dedicated individuals full support on their path to the classroom. The results in Tennessee signal a need for teacher prep programs to do more to support Black and Hispanic candidates, especially in the latter stages of the program. Indeed, in a recent poll of parents registered to vote, 94% identified ensuring schools have well-trained teachers as the most important policy focus, second only to a concern about protecting schools from violence.
As important as it is to focus on the pipeline for teachers of color, that alone won't be of much help if they don't stay in the profession over time. That's why state and district policymakers also need to focus on retention, especially in the face of mass layoffs.
Federal emergency relief funds in the wake of the pandemic fueled a hiring spree among school districts across the country. With the end of those funds, districts are forced to lay off teachers. In a statement totally without Halloween irony, one district superintendent described her workforce as "gravely skeletal" after implementing layoffs to balance a budget no longer propped up by ESSER funds. These cuts will have an acute impact on teachers of color, given that districts' efforts to build a more diverse workforce means that Black and Hispanic teachers are more prevalent among the novice teachers. As the "last in," they are the "first out" when positions are cut, regardless of their skill or impact with students. While LIFO policies are politically palatable, they work against states' and districts' goals of diversifying the workforce, as we lose teachers of color. Leaders can stand behind those values by acting now to change policies so that layoff decisions are based on school and district needs and on teacher effectiveness rather than seniority.
As education advocates, we too can do more to keep a spotlight on the importance of diversifying the teacher workforce, advocate for policy and practice changes, and make data available to set goals and measure our impact. In December, NCTQ will release Teacher Diversity Dashboards with new data showing snapshots of state and national trends in the diversity of the teacher workforce that can be configured based on user questions. The dashboards will identify teacher prep programs leading in contributing to diversity—and highlight programs that have the opportunity to do more to attract and support diverse candidates to complete teacher prep. Additionally, the dashboards will provide raw data on all teacher preparation programs so users can download the data and do their own analyses.
Increasing teacher diversity is a powerful force to make a difference for students. NCTQ continues to seek ways to drive improvements through our research and analyses, including showcasing pioneering states, districts, and prep programs. Key resources from NCTQ include:
- State policies to increase teacher diversity
- Four ways districts can take action to increase teacher diversity
- Seven strategies school districts are using to increase teacher diversity
- Data on how top education leaders, researchers and advocates prioritize teacher diversity
- Trends in teacher preparation enrollment
- Research summary on how Black teachers make a difference
- A deep dive on which types of institutions achieve excellence and equity for aspiring teachers of color
- Teacher Prep Review on program diversity and admissions
There is no magic Halloween spell or elixir to increase teacher diversity; we need intentional goals, sustained effort, a lot of listening, and good data. Our forthcoming Teacher Diversity Dashboards will contribute to this goal. If we can commit to increasing the diversity of our teacher workforce—and use the best available data to take action and measure our outcomes—we will see positive returns for students, teachers, and our nation.
With thanks to Sharif El-Mekki and Dominque Howse, Center for Black Educator Development; and Simone Hardeman-Jones, NCTQ Board Member and Green Light Fund, for their feedback on earlier drafts.