2002 Tomorrow's Teachers: Help Wanted: Minority Teachers

Not only are America's schools experiencing a shortage of teachers, the growth of ethnic and minority student enrollment is creating a critical need for minority teachers to provide positive role models for the students. The stakes are high: inspiring a diverse student body to achieve, encouraging parental involvement, and retaining qualified minority teachers.

In We Can't Teach What We Don't Know, author Gary Howard declares, "Diversity is not a choice, but our responses to it certainly are." The nation's K-12 students are seeing an ever-increasing mix of races among their peers, yet they are still taught mostly by all-white teachers.

According to U.S. Department of Commerce data, more than one-third of students in today's public schools are people of color. By the year 2025, at least half will be. Meanwhile, only 13 percent of their teachers are minority. More than 40 percent of schools across America have no teachers of color on staff.

"As educators, we have to prepare our students, both minority and majority, to live and work in an increasingly diverse society," says LaShay Roberts, a graduate student at California's Sonoma State University and president of the Student California Teachers Association. "How can we do that if teachers aren't representative of their own students?"

Justina Wilson, a new teacher in Norfolk, Virginia, believes part of her success as a teacher comes from living in the same neighborhood and experiencing the same day-to-day events as her students."When they talk about the streets, I know what they're talking about," says the former classroom aide turned special education teacher. "I know what their life is like."

Though there's little hard evidence that being a member of a minority group in itself makes one a more effective teacher of minority students, some educators see important pedagogical reasons for ensuring that students encounter teachers of similar racial or ethnic backgrounds.

Research shows when teachers of color are missing, minority students land more frequently in special education classes, have higher absentee rates, and tend to be less involved in school activities.Other experts say a lack of minority teachers hampers staff's ability to relate to a diverse student body and boost parental involvement.

Roberts concurs: "I think teachers of color bring with them an inherent understanding of the backgrounds, attitudes, and experiences of students from certain groups."

Jooneiu Kim, a teacher of English as a Second Language in Ridgefield, New Jersey, also agrees. As the only Asian teacher in a district where the student body has a high Asian population, Kim has been asked to sit in on parent conferences and contact families on such touchy issues as skipping school. She has talked to sixth-graders about being an immigrant and has helped Korean students understand American culture."I feel very needed here," she says. "I think parents are really appreciative of knowing there's a Korean teacher here."

But attracting--and retaining--minority educators like Roberts and Kim is proving to be quite a challenge for both urban and suburban districts alike.

In the years ahead, many experts worry there won't be enough applicants of any race to meet the growing need for teachers due to rising student enrollment and rapid teacher retirements. A projected 2.7 million educators are needed over the next decade.

Additionally, the applicant pool is limited. Experts say low pay and status coupled with aggressive recruiting of minorities by business and industry eager to diversify their workforces deplete the potential pool of teachers, particularly minorities.

"There simply aren't enough candidates of color," Sharon Robinson, executive vice president for Educational Testing Service (ETS), told participants last fall at an NEA-sponsored national diversity conference. Because today's teaching force is 85 percent white and female, Robinson says, it is necessary to ensure that they are adept at teaching an increasingly diverse student population. She speculates that future teachers might have to demonstrate that ability to gain a license.

Still, most recruitment efforts involve scholarship or loan-forgiveness programs and seek to draw the best and brightest minority college students into traditional teacher-preparation programs. Some districts tap into local education support professionals or encourage students to consider education careers before they even get to college.

At George Mason University in Virginia, an NEA Student Organizing Assistance Resources (SOAR) grant is helping the university do precisely that (see box on previous page). For seven years, GMU has been hosting a "Celebration of Teaching" conference for high school students aspiring to become teachers. Over 300 students, of which 60 percent were minority, participated in workshops last year. "They realize that teaching is a true profession," says GMU's Professor Rebecca Fox, who coordinates the outreach efforts.

"Teachers of color can help instill a tolerance of others into tomorrow's leaders," adds Roberts. "All schools should reflect diversity because life is not all white."

What's an NEA SOAR Grant?

The NEA Student Program's SOAR grants can help. SOAR--Student Organizing Assistance Resources--provides grants to NEA student chapters for their efforts in membership recruitment and student chapter organizing, particularly with minority teacher recruitment. For more information: www.nea.org/futureteachers/apform.html

Fast Facts

Nation of Diversity
The U.S. Department of Education says that of the more than 50 million children enrolled in elementary and secondary schools this year, one in every five has a parent who was born in another country. The department is predicting that school enrollment--which continues to climb every year--will peak in 2005 at 53.5 million students.

More Teachers Needed
American schools will need to hire as many as 2.7 million new teachers by 2009 according to a report by the National Center on Education Statistics. Each year, over 150,000 teachers are hired just to meet the ongoing demands to replace teachers who retire or leave the profession. For more: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2000/qtrlywinter/3elem/ 3-esq14-g.html

The Five-Year Marker
A recent report by the Southern Regional Education Board estimates that nearly half of new teachers in the board's 16-state area leave teaching in the state where they started, or get out of teaching entirely, within five years. The report also says high-quality mentoring or induction programs for new teachers are among the best steps states can take to turn the trend around.

Gender Gap in College
According to reports issued by the U.S. Department of Education and National Center for Education Statistics, men make up less than half of the national college/university population--just 44 percent. Government figures also show that in the last 20 years, the number of bachelor's degrees earned by women increased 77 percent, as compared with 19 percent with men.

Returning to their Roots
According to the South Carolina Center for Teacher Recruitment, the oldest and most established teacher recruitment program in the country: Students decide by age 14 what they do not want to be when they grow up and 52 percent of students decide on a career choice before they leave high school. Within the first five years of teaching, most teachers return to teach within 100 miles of where they lived as a child.

Diversity Tips

How can you prepare yourself to work with a diverse group of students? Try these tips.

Reflect on your own cultural background and seek to understand how your biases might affect your interactions with students.

Examine the backgrounds and needs of your students and seek to understand their cultural biases. Connect instruction to your students' backgrounds and scrutinize classroom materials for unconscious bias.

Give your students a chance to assert their differences. Make sure other voices and other cultures are included regularly.

Talk with your students about common myths and stereotypes, then seek to build a supportive classroom atmosphere where differences are celebrated.

Encourage your students to seek higher education, particularly teaching, and to volunteer and tutor in lower grades.

Invite diverse role models as guest speakers and involve parents in your classroom.

Seek out information on the Internet about multiculturalism and diversity. For ideas: www.cta.org/inside_cta/training/classroom_diversity.html

A Lesson in Today's Reality

Student-led conference helps prepare future teachers for diversity in education

"Most people think Mitchell, South Dakota is in the middle of nowhere," says Lori Johnson, a first-year teacher in this rural town that is home to Dakota Wesleyan University. "But we're still affected by diversity issues." That's why Johnson, along with senior Molly Peugh, brought the issue front and center last spring to future teachers across the state.

The duo and their South Dakota Education Association-Student Program (SDEA-SP) advisor, Sylvia Street, created "Diversity in Education: A Cross-Cultural Teaching Approach." The one-day event highlighted the need for more teachers in schools largely made up of minority students, and brought to light the critical necessity for more minority teachers.

Guest speakers included a Nebraska principal whose school has a high concentration of Latino children; an African American principal from Iowa; a Dakota Wesleyan alumna who now teaches on the Mexican border; and a former SDEA-SP leader who teaches in inner-city Omaha.

"All of the speakers have lived at least part of their lives in South Dakota, so they gave us a first-hand look into making the transition from small town to inner city, to working with children who don't speak English," says Johnson. "They brought with them a very vivid picture of today's reality."

More than 100 university students from around the state--as well as local high school students interested in teaching--attended and participated in workshops. The event was sponsored by an NEA Student Program Student Organizing Assistance Resources (SOAR) grant.

"Our goal was to increase awareness of the need for teachers in minority schools," she says. "But we also wanted to get the message across to our future teachers that they shouldn't expect their classrooms to be homogeneous--even in Mitchell."

Johnson says the conference inspired several education students to take a road-trip to Omaha to experience first-hand an inner-city classroom. Subsequently, all the students chose to look for jobs in an urban setting after graduation.

At Marshall University in West Virginia, minority educators are invited to the "Teacher Lecturer Program" so teacher candidates can view various perspectives about diversity and how to work effectively with diverse students.

"We're trying to put our teacher candidates in touch with educators from different cultures, countries, and ethnicities so that they may more readily recognize the diversity of the world outside West Virginia," says Jane McKee, associate dean for academic programs in the College of Education.

In fact, across the country, there are hundreds of programs focused on promoting diversity and excellence in teaching. These programs--which target students as young as middle school to seasoned business professionals--aim to attract people of color to choose teaching as a profession.

At University of Southern California, the "Latino Teacher Project" seeks to increase the number of Hispanics in the teaching profession by creating a career track for practicing Hispanic paraprofessionals. The project provides financial, social, and academic support and assistance to promising Latino paraeducators.

"America is a true melting pot of cultures and our classrooms are the best indicator of that," says Johnson. "The more we can do to recruit teachers of color and learn techniques for working with diverse students, the better our education system will get."

Ask the Experts

Segun Eubanks

Segun Eubanks is executive director of the Community Teachers Institute (www.communityteachers.org), a non-profit organization that provides services to support the identification and development of culturally connected educators for schools across America. He is on leave from NEA, where for three years he focused on the recruitment and retention of minority teachers. He also served as vice president for Recruiting New Teachers, Inc. Segun has spent more than ten years working to promote opportunity, access, and equity in America's education systems.

Why is the issue of diversity so important to educators?
Diversity and multiculturalism in American society is not something that we opt into and out of. In just a few years, the majority of students in America will be non-white. In order to help them see the full range of opportunities available to them as they make their way through school, we need teachers of color and different ethnic backgrounds to serve as role models. Many schools and neighborhoods remain segregated, yet our society as a whole is becoming more multi-cultural. With a diverse teacher workforce, these students learn early on how to thrive and cooperate in a multicultural environment.

School is the most diverse environment that many children will experience. Can having a diverse teaching force improve education?
I believe it can. Collectively, teachers at a school bring a full range of skills, perspectives, teaching styles, and characteristics to their classrooms. The more differences a child is exposed to, the better off he will be. Research tells us that how a teacher relates with her students is one of the critical factors to how a student learns. When a school has a diverse workforce, chances are each student will have one or more teachers who can directly impact that student; a teacher who knows how to inspire that child to succeed.

Why should future teachers embrace diversity?
Every teacher in training should recognize that no matter what their own cultural and economic backgrounds, hobbies or interests are, if they teach in American public schools --even in "affluent" neighborhoods--they will find children who immigrated from another country, who speak little English, and who have different economic and political experiences from themselves. Because our schools are getting more diverse, it's critically important that every teacher, no matter who they are or where they come from, develop the skills and cultural competencies necessary to connect with these kids.

Can you suggest some things new teachers can do to prepare themselves for teaching in diverse settings?
Take the time to develop the skills and knowledge that will help you respect and value the cultural differences your students bring with them every time they walk through the classroom door. There is a huge body of literature and knowledge out there on diversity and teaching to help you do that. It's also critical that you engage hands-on in diversity. If you haven't yet worked in a school where the majority of kids are on free and reduced lunch, or where there are a great deal of immigrant children, figure out how to do so. Volunteer your time if you have to. Having this experience will help you celebrate differences and share positive learning experiences with your students. It's a lesson you'll keep with you for life.

Should new teachers consider teaching in an underserved community?
Underserved or not, teachers will encounter intelligent children, overactive children, shy children, and tough children no matter where they teach. Finding success with these children in an underserved community is a great reward, but teachers shouldn't teach in this type of environment just because they feel sorry for the kids or want to be heroic. A lot of teachers think they can save these kids, but the truth is, they don't need to be saved. They need to learn how to read and write, and think for themselves. They need teachers who believe they can succeed, and inspire them to do so.

Books to Use

The Multicultural Resource Series: Professional Development Guide for Educators
Paul Gorski, Gene-Tey Shin, and Martha Green, Editors
NEA Professional Library (Stock no. 2005-7-00-PL, www.nea.org/books), $13.95
This book, the first in the Multicultural Resource Series, can help you develop creative ways to integrate multiculturalism into every curriculum, from science to literature. You'll learn from other educators how multicultural education has transformed their teaching. The guide provides a comprehensive listing of multicultural organizations, publications, national agencies, videos, Web sites, and more.

The Multicultural Resource Series: Resources for a Multicultural Classroom
Martha Green, Joyce Blakeley, Sybille Scott, Deborah Stuart, Gene-Tey Shin, and Paul Gorski, Editors
NEA Professional Library (Stock no.2012-X-00-PL, www.nea.org/books), $18.95
If you are ready to make celebrating diversity more than Taco Tuesdays, then open this book to any page for great ideas. This second volume in the Multicultural Resource Series contains annotated print, film, and electronic resource lists to help you plan K-12 programs that tie the strengths of diversity and inclusion with your prescribed curriculum.

The New IDEA Survival Guide
Sabrina Holcomb with Ed Admundson and Patti Ralabate
NEA Professional Library (Stock no. 2016-2-00-PL, www.nea.org/books), $5.95
If you are having trouble navigating the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), this is the book for you. The easy question-and-answer format leads you through a number of scenarios to address your most pressing concerns. You'll get practical advice on discipline, developing Individualized Education Programs, managing paperwork, getting training, and more.

Multiple Intelligences
Teacher-to-Teacher Series
(Stock no.2910-0-00-7, www.nea.org/books), $9.95
Traditionally schools have operated on the premise that if you ace math and reading, you're smart. Abilities in art, music, dance, or interpersonal relationships are not valued traits in the academic setting. The author's theory of multiple intelligences is slowly changing this notion.

Books to Peruse

Race and Culture in the Classroom; Teaching and Learning Through Multicultural Education
Mary Dilg (Teachers College Press), $17.95
White high school teacher Mary Dilg tackles issues of race and culture in her diverse classroom. Dilg shows how her teaching helps students discuss their racial identities in the context of larger issues--history, power, and politics. The students become their own educators through student essays and classroom conversations as opposed to simply accepting preexisting solutions.

The Color of Teaching
June A. Gordon (Routledge-Falmer Press), $27.99
The book is a collection of in-depth interviews with 200 teachers of color, including African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans and Latinos. Interviewees express their attitudes toward teaching and their understanding of why students of color do not select teaching as a career.

We Can't Teach What We Don't Know; White Teachers, Multiracial Schools
Gary R. Howard (Multiculturalism Education Series), $20.95
Through the lens of 25 years of experience, extensive travels and collaboration with students and colleagues from many different cultures, white educator Gary Howard reflects on what it means to be culturally competent in a racially diverse school. The author shares lively stories and provides compelling analysis on how white people think about race. The book presents groundbreaking theoretical work on White identity and education in pluralistic societies.

Ethnographic Eyes: A Teacher's Guide to Classroom Observation
Carolyn Frank (Heinemann), $16
This book written by teacher Carolyn Frank demonstrates how "ethnography"--written descriptions of culture--can help teachers gain new understanding of diversity among their students.

The Inspiring Teacher: New Beginnings for the 21st Century
Robert A. Sullo (NEA Professional Library), (www.nea.org), $14.95
Inspiring teachers teach more than facts and subject matter. They teach a way of being in the world. The book is a valuable resource for teachers new to the profession and for experienced teachers who want to revitalize their classrooms. You'll find out about brain-based learning--the latest research on how we learn most easily and effectively. You'll get information on forming positive alliances with colleagues and parents and study skills on conflict resolution.

Resources

National Directory of Successful Strategies for the Recruitment and Retention of Minority Teachers
This NEA report was designed to help school districts attract more minority teachers. It also offers reasons why we are facing a minority teacher shortage and suggestions to some of the problems schools face in recruiting and retaining minority teachers.

Initiatives by Organizations
Part of the NEA report listed above summarizes more than 25 programs established by various organizations to provide incentives for minorities interested in teaching careers.

The Urban Teacher Challenge report
The Recruiting New Teachers' Web site posted a report that examines the nation's major urban school districts and found that almost 100 percent have an urgent need for teachers in at least one high-need subject area (special education, science, and math).

Rethinking Schools
The organization publishes an independent, quarterly newspaper and advocates for the reform of public schools. Their site is a great source of articles and books on teaching equity and social justice.

The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs
(OSEP) site provides a searchable database of college programs and grants to prepare students to become licensed special education professionals in a variety of occupations.

Pathways to Teaching Careers Program
The DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund's Pathways to Teaching Careers Program is designed to increase the number of teachers--especially minorities--working in public schools. The nationwide program recruits teachers from various pools: paraprofessionals and noncertified teachers already working in schools, and other adults from nontraditional backgrounds such as returned Peace Corps volunteers. www.wallacefunds.org/publications/pub_teach/index.htm

Future Teacher newsletter
Published by Recruiting New Teachers, this newsletter focuses on recruiting, developing, and supporting a qualified and diverse teacher workforce.

Urban Teacher Academy Project
This site is designed to help school districts and schools, colleges, and departments of education learn about high school teaching programs that encourage high school students to consider careers in teaching.

Does Diversity Make a Difference?
The strong empirical evidence presented in this monograph, comprising three studies of college teachers' and students' attitudes toward and experiences with racial and ethnic diversity, demonstrate that campus diversity represents an education benefit for all students.

Respecting Ethnic and Cultural Heritage (REACH) Center
The Center provides curriculum and staff development programs focusing on multicultural and global education for schools across the nation.

The National Clearinghouse on Paraeducator Resources
This clearinghouse is committed to providing a comprehensive repository of information to attract talented paraeducators to teaching.

The Florida Fund for Minority Teachers
One of the largest initiatives specifically designed to draw minority candidates into teaching from community colleges. The $3 million fund has given loan assistance to more than 1,000 minority teachers since it began in 1996. Visit the site to find out if you are eligible.

National Conference on Teacher Quality - Exemplary Practices in Teacher Recruitment
Developed by the University of Southern California, a Latino and Language Minority Teacher project seeks to increase the number of Latinos and language minority teachers in the teaching profession. Prospective teachers are recruited from the ranks of paraeducators, and provided with financial, social, and academic support to complete the requirements needed to become credentialed bilingual teachers. The project involves not only universities, but also school districts, schools, and labor unions.

Organizations

NEA's Recruitment and Retention of Educators (RRE) Program
The program seeks to address the growing teacher shortage in America's public schools. Among the issues targeted are ethnic minority teacher shortages; teacher shortages in various subject areas; teacher shortages related to gender; and the retention of educators already in the teaching profession. The program establishes and maintains networks and collaborative activities with NEA affiliates and other organizations, conducts a national forum on the issue of educator recruitment and retention, disseminates information on initiatives, maintains a database with NEA affiliates and national and community organizations, and provides financial assistance to NEA local affiliates in their recruitment efforts.

Community Teachers Institute
This Institute supports the creation of partnerships among schools, higher learning institutions and community-based organizations to "home-grow" teachers rooted in communities of color. The Institute also provides professional development and technical assistance to current and future teachers.

Recruiting New Teachers
Recruiting New Teachers, Inc. (RNT) is a national non-profit organization that raises esteem for teaching, expands the pool of prospective teachers, and improves the nation's teacher recruitment and development policies and practices. One of RNT's primary goals is to expand America's pool of qualified and diverse teachers.

American Council on Education Office of Minorities in Higher Education
The Office provides information on the educational status of minorities, exemplary programs aimed at improving the campus climate for persons of color, and participation rates and degree attainment by ethnic minorities. The office also offers extensive assistance to colleges and universities seeking to improve their recruitment and retention of minority students, faculty, and administrators.

NEA Black Caucus High School Teacher Program
(847) 679-4042
The main goal of the NEA Black Caucus is to address the needs of Black American educators as well as the needs of all children, but particularly Black children. The Caucus is a watchdog for the Association, ensuring inclusivity in training, programs, and policies.

American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education
AACTE coordinates the activities of the Ford Foundation Minority Teacher Education Project which strives to recruit, retain, and graduate minorities in teacher education. Present programs focus on African American, Hispanic, and Native American students.

Future Educators of America
FEA seeks to interest students in the field of education and to recruit bright and talented students with diverse backgrounds into the teaching profession. Local chapters offer students the opportunity to explore teaching as a career option, provide them with a realistic understanding of teaching, and encourage students from diverse backgrounds to think seriously about the teaching profession. FEA encourages teachers to shape the future of the education profession and to examine, clarify, and explain their role in students' lives.

American Indian Higher Education Consortium
The mission of this unique--and uniquely American Indian--organization is to support the work of tribal colleges and the national movement for tribal self-determination. AIHEC promotes quality in American Indian education, supports the development of new tribally controlled colleges, advocates for American Indian higher education, and encourages greater participation by American Indians in the development of higher education policy.

National Association for Multicultural Education
The National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME) brings together individuals from all academic levels and disciplines and from diverse educational institutions, and other organizations, occupations, and communities who have an interest in multicultural education.

The Alliance for Equity in Higher Education
The Alliance promotes greater collaboration among colleges and universities that serve large numbers of students of color in order to enhance the nation's economic competitiveness, social stability, and cultural richness. The founding members of The Alliance include the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), and the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO).

National Alliance of Black School Educators
The nation's largest network of African American educators, NABSE seeks to promote the education of all students, especially those of African descent; establish a coalition of African American educators; improve opportunities for people of African descent; promote African American professionals to assume leadership positions in education; and influence public policy concerning the education of African Americans.

Latino Teacher Project
The University of Southern California sponsors the Latino Teacher Project to increase the number of Hispanics in the teaching profession by creating a career track for practicing Hispanic paraprofessionals. The project provides support and assistance, financially, socially, and academically, to promising Latino teacher paraeducators to enable them to complete a teacher education program.