Teacher diversity gap persists in NC

There's widespread agreement this is a problem worth addressing, but there's no program at the state level specifically designed to address the recruitment or retention of teachers of color, according to a legislative report filed Monday at the statehouse.

There is a broader program that seems to be boosting minority recruitment for state teaching jobs, but that's not its only focus, and funding for some of its efforts will be up for renewal in a coming budget cycle where many state programs expect cuts.

"This is important to everybody in the state of North Carolina," said Rep. Craig Horn, R-Union, the retiring chairman of the House Education committee.

Horn encouraged his colleagues to take up legislation next year. The report issued Monday made two recommendations that wouldn't cost the state money:

The report also included a number of more expensive ideas lawmakers could mull, including increased scholarships or other incentives for prospective teachers, and a mentoring program for teachers of color.

The diversity gap is an issue in every North Carolina county and every state in the country, according to the report.

Research has repeatedly shown students of color benefit from having a teacher of the same race. A 2015 study out of Florida showed increases in math and reading test scores, particularly in elementary school, the legislative report states.

A 2017 study found having a Black teacher in elementary school leads to a 31 percent decrease in the dropout rate for Black high school students. It also found that having a Black teacher in elementary school raised college aspirations for these students, the report states.

But the pool of potential teachers of color is smaller than it is for white teachers. College degrees are required, and 21 percent of Black adults and 16 percent of Hispanic ones had a degree in 2015, the report states.

For white adults, the figure is 40 percent.

The diversity gap is so large that researchers at the Urban Institute have said that, even if all Black college graduates became teachers, the number of Black teachers would barely exceed the number of white teachers.

The gap is stubborn, with only slight improvement in the last few years.

In 2015, 13 percent of North Carolina teachers were Black, the report states. Last year, it was 15 percent.

For Latinos, it's much the same: from 2 percent in 2015 to 3 percent last year.

The state has also implemented a new recruiting tool for all teachers, regardless of race, but it's impacting minority recruitment. TeachNC helps walk people through the process of becoming a teacher, and it connects them with mentors.

Of the 675 people who applied to educator preparation programs through the service, nearly half were people of color, according to Brenda Berg, the president and chief executive of Best NC, a business group involved in the project.

Berg noted, though, that some of TeachNC's efforts will need funding renewed soon.

“Letting this initiative go away would set us back several years and would be very costly to restart," she said.

Horn said after the meeting that economic impacts from the coronavirus pandemic will likely mean state budget cuts for a variety of programs.

"But this may well be one of those things SO important that they will escape the knife," he said via text.