It’s been a decade since students of color officially became the majority in U.S. public schools. The diversity among their teachers, however, has not kept pace—lagging behind other college-educated professionals, too.
A little more than 1 in 5 teachers—21.1 percent—identifies as American Indian, Black, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, or multiracial, according to a new report by the National Council on Teacher Quality, a Washington-based think tank. That’s less than half the share of students of those races, and also slightly less than the 22.6 percent of other working adults with degrees of the same races.
While the difference between historically underrepresented groups among teachers and other college-educated adults may seem small, this gap represents a major change. Until 2020, teachers consistently outpaced similarly educated peers in being racially and ethnically diverse.
“We know from research the positive impact that teachers of color have on all students—and especially on students of color,” said Heather Peske, the president of NCTQ, “so this reveals a troubling trend. ... The faces at the front of American classrooms should reflect the faces of the students and their communities, and they don’t.”
In a state dashboard launched with the report, NCTQ tracks five-year rolling averages of the representation of historically underrepresented racial groups among new and overall state teacher pools, as well as students, working-age adults, and working-age adults with college degrees, from 2014 to 2022 in every state and Washington, D.C.
In all, the data suggest teaching is attracting fewer people from historically underrepresented groups to either become or remain teachers—even as more states introduce hiring bonuses, grow-your-own pathways to entice career-changers, and other efforts to boost recruitment and retention.
“In the ‘80s and early ‘90s, Black and Hispanic college graduates were more likely than white and Asian college grads to choose a career in teaching,” Peske said. “But as of 2020, the teacher workforce has become less racially diverse than the broader population of colleges.”
Teacher pay remains one of the most frequent roadblocks to recruiting and keeping diverse teachers, Peske noted. While teacher salaries have improved since 2022, they still make on average $18,000 less per year in their base salaries while working about nine hours longer per week than similar workers, according to a recent national survey from the RAND Corp.—and Black and Hispanic teachers make even less than the average.
Moreover, the NCTQ report noted that teachers of color are more likely than white teachers to pay an “invisible tax” consisting of more unpaid work responsibilities, such as mentoring students of color and interpreting for families.
Some states have tried to respond to the decline in the share of adults of color who want to be teachers. In Minnesota, for example, the share of college-educated adults from historically underrepresented racial groups has risen from 6.4 percent in 2014 to nearly 10 percent in 2022, but the share among teachers has only nudged up from 4.4 percent to 4.7 percent. In 2021, the state allotted $17.5 million for a slew of initiatives to attract more teachers of color, including $2,500 to $8,000 recruitment bonuses.
Even so, teachers of color tend to face barriers in the hiring process. For example, a nationally representative survey by the EdWeek Research Center this October found 53 percent of school and district leaders said the lack of candidates is a major challenge in recruiting a racially and ethnically diverse staff. Still, only 20 percent of administrators said they took concrete steps to ensure their pool for new hires actually included racially diverse candidates.
And recruitment is only half the battle: Teachers of color leave the profession at higher rates than their white counterparts. One reason is a lack of support from administrators: Research suggests teachers of color are often bypassed for mentoring and advancement opportunities.
