Understanding the Teacher Diversity Gap Among Early Career Teachers

• In Event: 63.052 - Toward an Inclusive Teacher Workforce: Training, Hiring, and Retaining for Diversity

Abstract

One explanation for the lack of racial/ethnic diversity in the teacher workforce relates to the inequitable educational opportunities faced by historically underserved racial/ethnic groups that result in lower levels of educational attainment. Drawing on data from the Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study, we show that even among college graduates, respondents who identify as White are 4 percentage points more likely to enter teaching than respondents who identify as Black and 3 percentage points more likely to enter teaching than graduates who identify as Hispanic. In regression and decomposition analyses, we show that, among college graduates, the observed racial/ethnic gaps in entry to teaching can largely be explained by whether or not a graduate studied education in college.

Authors

• Christopher Redding, University of Florida

• Dominique Baker, Southern Methodist University