Roy Cisneros Elementary School teacher Janie Delgado works with fifth-grade students during a recent math class. Delgado was a para-athlete for 27 years, then earned her teaching certification through an Edgewood ISD program that subsidizes the cost of online courses.
Robin JerstadTexas has one of the most diverse teacher workforces in the country, but it still falls short in representing students of color, according to a new study.
The National Council on Teacher Quality analyzed trends in state and national demographic groups in a recent report titled “A New Roadmap for Strengthening Teacher Diversity.”
The report found that although the number of teachers of color has increased over the past decade, “the proportion of people of color in the teaching workforce has not kept pace” as more people of color earn college degrees. revealed that.
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Research says this is a new trend. Until recently, the teacher workforce was slightly more diverse than working-age adults as a whole.
Texas led the nation in teacher diversity in 2022, with more than 45% of teachers being people of color, compared to the national average of 23%. This number still does not reflect the state’s students, 73.5% of whom are students of color, the report said.
Still, since 2014, the gap has narrowed by 2 percentage points.
Similarly, 43% of teachers in Texas were from historically disadvantaged groups, including American Indian/Alaska Native, Black/African American, Hispanic, and Islander/Pacific Native.
The organization calculated the number of people from historically disadvantaged groups using a five-year moving average. It found that in Texas, there are 26 percentage points fewer teachers from historically disadvantaged groups than there are students.
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“Teachers of color have a positive impact on all students, especially students of color, yet our teacher workforce continues to lack racial diversity,” NCTQ President said Dr. Heather Peske in a news release. “Addressing this problem starts with better data.”
NCTQ’s new Teacher Diversity Dashboard, based on federal employment and education demographic data, shows that in 2022, nearly 30% of Texas teachers will be Hispanic, compared to 53% of students. Indicated that he is Hispanic. Meanwhile, 12% of teachers and 13% of students were black.
The dashboard shows how teacher preparation programs contribute to a more representative workforce. It found that the most diverse program in the Lone Star State was Texas Southern University, where 99% of students who completed the program were people of color as of 2022.
In the Alamo City, St. Mary’s University and the University of Texas at San Antonio lead in diversity, with 78% and 72% of their program graduates, respectively, being people of color. University of the Incarnate Word had 70%, followed by ACT San Antonio with 52% and Trinity University with 42%.
Use this dashboard to identify state and national trends in individual or collective demographic groups, examine the success of each state’s diversity efforts, and identify trends in the adult population and teacher workforce. You can also compare.
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Sharif Elmekki, CEO of the Center for Black Educator Development, said it is not enough for schools to simply try to address the diversity gap between students and teachers.
“If advocates and policymakers want to truly understand and address the alarming disparities in representation, they need to consider how teacher diversity compares to the broader workforce. “Yes. This disparity has led to, and will continue to lead to, lower academic performance and widening racial economic disparities.” said in a statement.
