California teachers don’t reflect the diversity of the state’s student population and not much is being done to improve that, according to a report from The Education Trust.
U.S. Department of Education data from 2017-18 shows that nearly 61% of all California teachers were white, while 23% of the state’s students were white. Teachers in every other racial group were underrepresented compared to students. Latinos comprise 55% of the state’s students, but only 21% of its teachers. Black students are 5.4 % percent of the state’s student population, but only 3.8 percent of the state’s teachers are Black.
Although the report says that state leaders are trying to diversify the teacher workforce, they haven’t established measurable goals to do it. The state has made progress in building a teacher preparation pipeline to diversity the teacher workforce, but should also invest in scholarship or loan forgiveness programs that target teacher candidates of color, according to the report.
