Hispanic Teachers in the United States: Recent Past, Present, and Near Future

• In Event: 54.081 - Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: 54.081-1 - Division K Section 7

Abstract

The number of Hispanic students is rising rapidly in the U.S. To continue improving outcomes for Hispanic students, increasing the representation of Hispanic K-12 teachers in the workforce would likely be advantageous. Using data from several national administrative datasets, this study describes recent trends and current characteristics of Hispanic teachers and projects future trends. We find that Hispanic teacher representation is growing more quickly than Hispanic student representation, but a large gap between student and teacher representation is only slowly closing. Representation gaps are particularly high in STEM and the arts. Policy actions that could accelerate rising Hispanic teacher representation include increasing support of Hispanic student college completion, reducing barriers to entering the teaching occupation, and strengthening classroom autonomy.

Authors

• Gregory J. Collins, University of Pennsylvania

• Wendy Castillo, University of Pennsylvania

• Roman Ruiz, University of Pennsylvania