Why focus on Teacher Diversity?
Teachers of color positively impact all students, especially those of color. For students of color, having a teacher of color can increase academic achievement, reduce discipline incidents, increase high school graduation and college attendance, as well as increase social-emotional outcomes like grit and sense of self-efficacy.1 Research also finds that teachers of color produce additional positive academic and behavioral outcomes for all students, regardless of race, compared to white teachers.2
How well is each state implementing policies to diversify its workforce?
In 2023, NCTQ conducted a comprehensive scan of state teacher diversity policies. Across the nation we found that:
- While most states have created and invested in various pathways to recruit teachers, a smaller proportion are explicitly using these strategies to attract a more diverse workforce.
- Many states are pursuing policies and program investments to grow and sustain their teacher workforces in general, but only a few states have gone further by providing specific incentives or supports for teachers of color.
- Only a handful of states have set public goals for increasing the diversity of their teacher workforce–and even fewer collect and publish data on teachers disaggregated by race and linguistic diversity, making it difficult for states to assess their challenges and progress.
Explore the key policy levers below to learn more about how each state is implementing policies to diversify their workforce. (NCTQ does not assign rankings to states for this policy area.)
Key Resources
State of the States 2023: Teacher Diversity
Explore NCTQ’s comprehensive scan of state teacher diversity policies.
Teacher Diversity Dashboard
Explore trends and efforts to diversify the teacher workforce both nationwide and in your community.
References
- Egalite, A., Kisida, B., & Winters, M. (2015). Representation in the classroom: The effect of own-race teachers on student achievement. Economics on Education Review, 45, 44-52; Goldhaber, D., & Hansen, M. (2010). Race, gender and teacher testing: How informative a tool is teacher licensure testing and how does it impact student achievement? American Educational Research Journal, 47(1), 218-51; and Dee, T.S. (2004). Teachers, race, and student achievement in a randomized experiment. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 86(1), 195-210. Lindsay, C., Monarrez, T., & Luetmer, G. (2021). The effects of teacher diversity on Hispanic student achievement in Texas. Policy brief. Texas Education Research Center. Gottfried, M., Kirksey, J. J., & Fletcher, T. L. (2022). Do high school students with a same-race teacher attend class more often? Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 44(1), 149-169. Gershenson, S., Hart, C. M., Hyman, J., Lindsay, C., & Papageorge, N. W. (2018). The long-run impacts of same-race teachers (No. w25254). National Bureau of Economic Research. Grissom, J. A., Kabourek, S. E., & Kramer, J. W. (2020). Exposure to same-race or same-ethnicity teachers and advanced math course-taking in high school: Evidence from a diverse urban district. Teachers College Record, 122(7), 1-42.; Lindsay, C. A., & Cassandra M. D. Hart. (2018). Exposure to same-race teachers and student disciplinary outcomes for Black students in North Carolina. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 39(3), 485-510. Scherer, E., & Cleveland, C. (2022). The effects of teacher-student demographic matching on social-emotional learning. Annenberg Institute at Brown University.
- Blazar, D. (2021). Teachers of color, culturally responsive teaching, and student outcomes: Experimental evidence from the random assignment of teachers to classes. EdWorkingPaper No. 21-501. Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University; Cherng, H. Y. S., & Halpin, P. F. (2016). The importance of minority teachers: Student perceptions of minority versus white teachers. Educational Researcher, 45(7), 407-420.