Equitable Access

This report from EdTrust examines why retention rates of black teachers and teachers of color remain low. Based on qualitative data collected during focus group sessions comprising 150 black teachers across the U.S., the report reveals the challenges black teachers face in schools and classrooms that contribute to a lack of diverse teachers.

This report from NCTQ and the Brookings Institution examines why diversity in the teacher workforce matters so much, and the challenges associated with recruiting teachers who reflect the diversity of students served. The report finds that minority teachers exit the teacher pipeline at four key points: attending and completing college, majoring in education, hiring into teacher positions, and staying in teaching beyond one year, and it suggests some short-term strategies that could be employed to reverse these trends. 

This brief from the Learning Policy Institute examines the effectiveness of state efforts to recruit, employ, and retain minority K-12 teachers. Results are based on a study of teacher recruitment data from 1987 to 2013. The study concludes that though efforts to recruit and place minority teachers in high-needs schools have been largely successful, retention rates have been low. Other findings indicate that two key determinants of retention are the degree of teachers' classroom autonomy and teacher input into school decisions.

This brief examines the CLASS project, an Oregon initiative intended to close the achievement gap by improving teacher quality by expanding career paths for teachers, and improving evaluations, professional development, and salary options. The paper includes an overview of the CLASS project model, the legislative and policy actions necessary to implement the model, an analysis of its impact, and a summary of lessons learned.

This brief highlights an analysis of the Boston Public Schools Human Capital Initiative (HCI), launched in 2014 to improve teacher quality in city schools. The brief concludes that HCI has enabled schools to recruit a more diverse, highly effective teaching pool, but identifies several areas where change is still needed, including reform of the state tenure law, and greater use of alternative pathways to teacher certification.

In an analysis of state-level data, this study on teacher retention in Kentucky found that teachers under the age of 31 and over the age of 50 are more likely to leave the profession than teachers between those ages and that teacher retention rates are lower in schools with high percentages of free- or reduced-price lunch-eligible students.

The National Council on Teacher Quality’s ninth annual teacher policy yearbook presents evaluations of policies in all states in teacher policy areas, including teacher retention, expanding the teaching pool, and professional development.

This working paper from the Center for Education Data and Research presents findings about the teacher hiring process from a study analyzing data from Washington state on prospective teachers and student teaching assignments. The study found that the location of student teaching assignments is predictive of first teaching positions, and that more qualified student teachers tend to take student teaching assignments in more advantaged districts, which could impact the inequitable distribution of highly effective teachers.

This report by the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research finds that Chicago Public Schools teachers with low-end scores on Recognizing Educators Advancing Chicago’s Students (REACH), Chicago’s new teacher evaluation system, are overrepresented in schools with the most high-need students while highly evaluated teachers are overrepresented in low-poverty schools. The report also finds that schools with better organizational and learning climates attract teachers with higher REACH scores, even in high-poverty schools.

This report examines the progress made in recent years in increasing teacher diversity in public schools. The report discusses the benefits of a diverse teaching population for all students, particularly minority students, and investigates the hiring, distribution, and turnover of minority teachers in nine major U.S. cities.