Program Diversity and Admissions
2021

In most any conversation regarding strengthening the teacher workforce, two themes dominate the narrative: increasing teacher quality and diversifying the profession. Both of these are vital to accelerating student learning — yet they are often needlessly viewed as competing aims.

A diverse teacher workforce benefits all students, particularly students of color. It is possible to measure real gains made by Black students who experience even just one Black teacher, in how much they learn and the rate in which they graduate, including from college. These benefits extend beyond those students who have long been disadvantaged by the nation's education system. A more diverse teacher workforce provides an important first lesson for all children: that the world outside their immediate neighborhood is a tapestry of cultures, traditions, and experiences to embrace, not to be feared or mistrusted. Yet the lack of diversity in the teacher workforce remains a persistent challenge.

While the benefits to a more diverse teaching profession are remarkable, the new research does not provide support for policy changes that overlook the academic qualifications of teaching prospects. Indeed there is a substantial body of research finding that the academic aptitude of a teacher, measured in many different ways, predicts future teacher effectiveness.

Around the world, top-performing school systems have embraced the important role a teacher's academic aptitude plays by restricting program enrollment to the top-third of the college-going population—an effort most teacher preparation programs in the United States have long resisted.

Unfortunately, diversity and academic aptitude, both important, are often seen as conflicting goals. In contrast to that line of thought, a 2017 report from the Center for American Progress found states that increased admissions standards to teacher preparation programs saw increased diversity of undergraduate education majors. Beyond expanding diversity, greater selectivity helps raise the status of the teaching profession, supports the push for higher salaries, and, most importantly, provides students with access to the highest quality teachers.

In a unique undertaking, this study examines this important intersection between programs' admissions standards with their goals to achieve greater diversity and highlights programs that have successfully achieved both.

While program completion data would provide a more accurate reflection of programs' contribution to the diversity of the teacher workforce, the government does not collect this data. And recruiting a diverse cohort of teacher candidates is a first and necessary step in the long path to a more diverse teacher force. We invite feedback, especially from teacher preparation programs, on how to better measure these critical components to help advance both the diversity and academic rigor the profession so urgently needs.