Teacher Diversity Coverage

Teacher diversity gap persists in NC
More than half of North Carolina's public school students are minorities, but only 20 percent of its teachers are.

Education Matters: Improving Teacher Diversity in North Carolina
Research says students experience significant academic and emotional benefits from having teachers of color, yet in North Carolina the educator workforce comprises a disproportionately low percentage of teachers of color. At a summit hosted this week by the Office of Governor Roy Cooper and partnering organizations, educators and policymakers tackled this issue by brainstorming a new landscape for recruiting and supporting a more diverse teaching workforce. Today we will hear from leaders in the field who participated in that summit and who are directly working to improve educator diversity, support future educators of color and ensure that all new educators are prepared to support a diverse range of students in a culturally competent classroom.

Commission moves forward with new rules for NC educator preparation programs
North Carolina's Professional Educator Preparation and Standards Commission signed off on a new plan for evaluating educator preparation programs Thursday.

Governor: Bring HBCUs into Teaching Fellows program
Cooper administration plans push on teacher diversity.

TeachNC campaign aims to recruit more people to teaching profession
State education leaders on Wednesday unveiled a new campaign aimed at recruiting more people to the teaching profession. TeachNC is the "largest statewide initiative of its kind," according to State Superintendent Mark Johnson, and will focus on increasing the number of high-quality, diverse and dedicated North Carolinians entering the teaching professiom, especially in hard-to-staff areas such as science, math and special education.

'Nothing's really changed': NC Teaching Fellows still enrolling mostly white female students
A North Carolina program that recruits top students to become teachers by providing college tuition help has once again enrolled mostly white, mostly female students for the 133 spots this year, according to demographic data reviewed by WRAL News.

Author Ta-Nehisi Coates to headline 'Color of Education' event in Raleigh
Author Ta-Nehisi Coates will headline "Color of Education 2019" in Raleigh this October, a summit focused on race, equity and education in North Carolina.

Diversity in Teaching
North Carolina's public schools are becoming increasingly diverse with students of color now making up more than 50 percent of total enrollment. The state's teaching workforce, however, does not reflect that diversity, with about 80 percent of teachers both white and female. Does it matter, and if so what do we need to do about? WRAL's anchor/reporter Lena Tillett and education reporter, Kelly Hinchcliffe, share their extensive examination of this issue.

CBC OPINION
Editorial: Fix N.C. public schools' lack of teacher diversity, turnover now
Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019 -- Rather than looking for ways to close troubling gaps in diversity between public school students and teachers along with increases in teacher turnover, the N.C. General Assembly has taken a cleaver to the efforts to fix them and done little or nothing to replace those programs. Particularly troubling, is that much of this was done out of pure ideological spite.

Wake lawmaker: NC Teaching Fellows program needs more diversity
A Wake County Democratic lawmaker is asking Republicans to join her in supporting legislation that she believes would help North Carolina recruit more teachers of color.

Wake lawmaker calls for increased diversity in NC's Teaching Fellows program
A Wake County Democratic lawmaker is asking Republicans to join her in supporting legislation that she believes would help North Carolina recruit more teachers of color.

WRAL anchor Lena Tillett investigates diversity in NC's colleges of education
In North Carolina, nearly 50 colleges - both public and private - offer teacher preparation programs. They serve as the major supplier of teachers for this state. Their undergraduate programs range in size from just a few students to more than 1,000, but no matter the size, many of the colleges share something in common - they enroll mostly white, mostly female students.

Diversity Gap: Lena Tillett's complete two-part package
While North Carolina's public schools are growing increasingly diverse, the state's public school teachers remain overwhelmingly white and female. The state's colleges of education are committed to addressing the problem, but their enrollment figures show they have a long, long way to go.

"NC Teacher Diversity Gap" -- Lena Tillett's complete two-part report

Former NC Teaching Fellow says low wages, heavy workload made him leave teaching
For nearly 25 years, the North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program recruited high-performing students who wanted to become teachers. Dion Beary was one of them.

Former NC Teaching Fellow 'felt alone' in college as only black male education major
Eric Hart originally wanted to be a pediatrician, but he decided to put that dream aside when he found out North Carolina was offering college tuition help for students who wanted to become teachers.

North Carolina Teaching Fellows men of color: Where are they now?
WRAL News reached out to dozens of men of color who were part of the North Carolina Teaching Fellows program to find out why they applied, what the experience was like and whether they have stayed in education.

Dion Beary: 2008 NC Teaching Fellow
Dion Beary: 2008 NC Teaching Fellow

Eric Hart: 1993 Teaching Fellow
Eric Hart: 1993 Teaching Fellow, Appalachian State University