US teachers nowhere as diverse as their students
By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press
Updated 6:05 am, Sunday, May 4, 2014
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Lyle Alderson, left, a former teacher, with his wife Jan Alderson, a high school science teacher, both of Overland Park, Kansas, and Kevin Gilbert, 42, of Ridgeland, Miss., right, a member-at-large on the National Education Association (NEA) executive committee and a former social studies teacher and coach, are interviewed in Washington on Thursday, May 1, 2014. Mrs. Alderson is a National Teacher Hall of Fame inductee. Photo: Jacquelyn Martin, AP
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. teachers are nowhere near as diverse as their students.
Almost half the students attending public schools are minorities, yet fewer than 1 in 5 of their teachers is nonwhite.
New studies from the Center for American Progress and the National Education Association are calling attention to this "diversity gap" at elementary and secondary schools in the United States. The groups want more to be done to help teachers more accurately mirror the students in their classrooms.
Teachers are always pushing their students to excel, said Kevin Gilbert, coordinator of teacher leadership and special projects for the Clinton Public School District in Clinton, Mississippi.
It becomes easier for students to believe "when they can look and see someone who looks just like them, that they can relate to," said Gilbert, a member of the NEA's executive committee. "Nothing can help motivate our students more than to see success standing right in front of them."
More than minority students would benefit from a more diverse teacher corps, said Ulrich Boser, the author of the center's report.
"Even in a place like North Dakota, where the students aren't particularly diverse relative to the rest of the country, it's important for our social fabric, for our sense as a nation, that students are engaging with people who think, talk and act differently than them but can also be just as effective at raising student achievement in the classroom," he said.
There were about 3.3 million teachers in American public elementary and secondary US teachers nowhere as diverse as their students - SFGate: