Raising Status of Profession Critical in Recruiting Teachers of Color
Tiffany McClary attended Palm Beach County, Florida public schools from grade school to high school. She excelled, but McClary who is black, says she never really felt like she belonged.
Today, McClary, a senior elementary education major at Florida A&M University (FAMU), says her Historically Black University makes her feel right at home. “After experiencing four years at Florida A&M University, and being taught by many teachers of color, I must say it feels better to be taught by your own,” McClary adds.
That’s an experience a growing number of students of color in the nation’s public schools don’t have and may never know. That’s because students of color make up almost half of the public school population, but teachers of color represent just 18 percent of the profession.
Recent data from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education point to a small pool of future educators of color in the pipeline: of the bachelor’s degrees awarded in 2013-2014, Black teacher candidates earned just 5 percent and Hispanic candidates 6 percent.
But if public schools are going to keep pace and meet the needs of the rising population of minority students, they will need to recruit more high-quality minority educators. Who teaches students of color matters, the research shows. When students have teachers who look like them and are more culturally responsive to their needs, they benefit academically and in other ways, too—they have fewer instances of absenteeism, suspension and expulsion, and higher test scores, levels of engagement, advanced-level course enrollment, graduation rates, and college enrollment. Also, teachers of color are more likely to work in urban and high-poverty schools and often feel it’s an important responsibility to fulfill.
As districts nationwide struggle to recruit teachers for underserved populations and for harder to fill teaching positions in math, science, and special education, (HBCUs and other minority serving institutions can be important resources. But understanding why more college and high school students aren’t drawn to the teaching profession in the first place, may be the first step.
Elizabeth Davenport, Ph.D., J.D., a FAMU College of Education professor, points to several reasons more students of color aren’t joining the ranks of educators. Their own negative school experiences are among them.
When North Carolina A&T researchers surveyed high-achieving, African-American Raising Status of Profession Critical in Recruiting Teachers of Color - NEA Today:
