Closing the Racial/Ethnic Gap Between Students of Color and Their Teachers: An Elusive Goal

Abstract

This article examines minority teacher recruitment policies and programs of the past two decades and explores their influence on the racial/ethnic makeup of the teaching force in elementary and secondary public schools. The results show that while important progress has been made toward increasing the overall number and proportion of minority teachers in the public schools, those gains have been eclipsed by the rapid growth of the minority student population. As a result, the racial/ethnic gap between students of color and their teachers has actually increased over the years. The authors provide an overview of current minority teacher recruitment state policies and introduce the Teacher-Student Parity Index, a new metric for comparing the proportions of teachers and students from different racial/ethnic groups to gain a more textured understanding of the demographic reality of today's schools than is presently found in the literature. The authors conclude with recommendations for policy and research.

Teach For America’s paradoxical diversity initiative: Race, policy, and Black teacher displacement in urban schools

“…White teachers grew modestly during this time by 42%. In contrast, Black teachers had the slowest growth among all race and ethnic groups with a 27% increase by 2007 (Villegas et al, 2012). Subsequent research on teacher diversity described a more troubling picture for Black teachers, with slow growth giving way to significant decline in several cities by 2012.…”

“…According to data presented by Villegas, Lucas, and Strom (2012), Latino/a teachers experienced the fastest growth among all teacher groups between 1987 and 2007 with a 260% increase, while Asian American teachers had the second fastest growth during the same period with 130-percent growth. White teachers grew modestly during this time by 42%.…”

“…Indeed annual attrition has undercut dramatic gains in the proportion of ToCs whose growth outpaced White teachers between 1987 and 2007, with 92% growth compared to 42% respectively (Villegas, Strom & Lucas, 2012). Percentage growth of ToCs also outpaced population growth of students of color between 1987 and 2007 with 92% and 73% respectively (Ingersoll & May, 2011a, 2011bVillegas, Strom & Lucas, 2012). According to researchers Richard Ingersoll and Henry May (2011a), "While minorities have entered teaching at higher rates than Whites over the past two decades, minority teachers also have left schools at higher rates.…”

Hispanic-Serving Institution Scholars and Administrators on Improving Latina/Latino/Latinx/Hispanic Teacher Pipelines: Critical Junctures along Career Pathways

“…On the other hand, Villegas, Strom, and Lucas (2012) warn their readers that a focus on increasing the presence of minority teachers must not "place the full responsibility for successfully educating students of color on teachers of color. Efforts to diversify the teaching force should be seen as only one component…in a broad and comprehensive policy designed to ensure that children who historically have been marginalized in schools receive the high quality of education they deserve" (p. 298).…”

Social Justice in Educational Policy: How do Students Perceive It?

“…In a 2016, the US GOA reported that "recent literatures shows that poor and minority students may not have full access to educational opportunities" [3]. In addition, "racial/ethnic gap between student of color and their teachers has actually increase over the years" [4]. In Malaysia, discrimination because of ethnicity in any field including education was reported increase [5].…”