WE BELIEVE THAT NUMBERS MATTER
When we think of K-12 schools, many of us picture teachers and principals. In reality, many adults work in schools. These adults play critical roles in supporting student learning from helping students with special needs to coaching teachers to working one-on-one with families. Emerging research shows that increasing the diversity of all adult educators in the building, including teachers, administrators and support staff, can improve outcomes for students of color and students overall (Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence, 2000).
The Kansas City Educator Dashboard sheds light on the demographic characteristics of the educators in our school districts and charter schools.
In the United States, students of color account for more than 45% of the P–12 population, but only 17.5% of teachers are people of color (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, 2013). Despite efforts to diversify the profession, teachers of color remain underrepresented. The research in this report demonstrates that the current pipeline of aspiring educators of color is insufficient to increase educators of color anytime soon.
This report offers recommendations for recruiting a more diverse cohort of candidates of color and retaining them through graduation. Our work continues. It is imperative that, collectively, we encourage students of color to pursue careers in education. Representation is critical to improving educational outcomes.
As we work to improve educational outcomes in Kansas City, policymakers are increasingly pointing to teacher diversity as a key strategy to close the achievement gap.
Fifty years of research shows that effective teachers are the most important schooling variable associated with student academic success (Goldhaber, 2016).
Teachers of color are a key part of our teacher workforce and their capacity to influence student outcomes, especially for students of color, is well documented.