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can teachers are a declining share of the
teacher workforce and the gap between the
percentage of Latinx teachers and students
is larger than for any other racial or ethnic
group. The report also examines how the
lack of diversity in the teaching workforce
impacts students, and offers district and
state policy solutions.
“Increasing teacher diversity is a very
important strategy for improving learn-
ing for students of color and for closing
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achievement gaps,” said LPI President and
Stanford professor emeritus, Linda Dar-
ling-Hammond. “While White students
also benefit by learning from teachers of
color, the impact is especially significant
for students of color, who have higher
test scores, are more likely to graduate
high school, and more likely to succeed
in college when they have had teachers of
color who serve as role models and support
their attachment to school and learning.
Students with racially diverse teachers also
have fewer unexcused absences and are less
likely to be chronically absent.”
Research findings
Among the findings are:
• Teachers of color boost the academic
performance of students of color, including
improved reading and math test scores,
improved graduation rates, and increases in
aspirations to attend college.
• Teachers of color are resources for
students in hard-to-staff schools. Many
teachers of color report feeling called to
teach in low-income communities of color
where positions are often difficult to fill.
Indeed, three in four teachers of color work
in the quartile of schools serving the most
students of color nationally.
• Greater diversity of teachers may
mitigate feelings of isolation, frustration,
and fatigue that can contribute to individ-
ual teachers of color leaving the profession
when they feel they are alone.
Barriers to recruiting
Barriers to recruitment include:
• Inadequate teacher preparation when
teachers enter through alternative routes
and try to teach while they are in training,
along with lack of ongoing support for new
teachers, can drive high turnover rates.
• Teacher licensure exams that dispro-
portionately exclude teacher candidates
of color despite little evidence that these
exams predict teacher effectiveness.
• Poor working conditions and low sal-
aries that discourage teachers from staying
in their schools and in the profession.
• Displacement from the high-need
schools they teach in, where accountability
strategies have often resulted in staff re-
constitution or closing schools rather than
investing in improvements.
Promising practices
Increasing the number of teachers of
color requires intentional preparation and
hiring, providing ongoing support, and
addressing college affordability. Many
programs and initiatives across the country
provide evidence that an intentional and
sustained approach to recruiting and re-
taining teachers of color can build a diverse
and stable teacher workforce. Promising
practices include:
1. High-retention, supportive pathways
into teaching.
• Implementing Grow Your Own
programs at the district level that recruit
teacher candidates from nontraditional
populations (e.g., high school students,
paraprofessionals, and after-school program
staff ). States can support these programs
through university-based partnerships and
other financial and programmatic policies.
• Providing state funding for intensive
teacher preparation support programs
offering ongoing mentorship, tutoring,
exam stipends, job placement services and
other supports to ensure teachers of color
successfully complete preparation programs.
2. Hiring and induction strategies.
• Hiring earlier in the year. Research
suggests that more in-demand candidates
of color may be available for hire earlier
in the year. Districts can offer incentives
for teachers to announce their resignation,
retirement, and transfer intentions in early
spring so that they can recruit new hires
earlier in the season.
• Partnering with local teacher prepa-
ration programs, including those at
minority-serving institutions, to coordi-
nate student teaching placements and vet
candidates for hire before they graduate.
• Offering comprehensive induction to
support teachers of color in their first years
of teaching. Induction often includes being
matched with a veteran mentor teacher
and can also include seminars, classroom
assistance, time to collaborate with other
teachers, among other items.
3. Improve school teaching conditions
through improved school leadership.
• Supporting improved principal prepa-
ration at the state level by strengthening
program accreditation and licensure stan-
dards to ensure that principals have clinical
experiences in schools with diverse students
and staff and learn to create collaborative,
supportive work environments for the
teachers with whom they work.
• Providing ongoing professional
learning opportunities for school leaders
to develop the skills to support teachers
effectively.
More information can be accessed at the
Learning Policy Institute website at learning-
policyinstitute.org.
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