Our Future, Our Teachers - U.S. Department of Education

III. Targeted Investments: Hawkins Centers for Excellence atMinority Serving InstitutionsWhile the HEA regulations and Presidential Teaching Fellows program will createconditions for reform for all programs and students in a state, targeted investmentsare also necessary. Research indicates that disadvantaged students benefit academicallyand socially from having teachers with whom they can identify. But such teachers areunderrepresented in the workforce: 14 percent of teachers identify as African-Americanor Hispanic, compared to 38 percent of students. Only 2 percent of teachers are African-American men and only 2 percent are Latino men. 11Minority-serving institutions (MSIs), which collectively prepare more than half of allminority teachers, must play a major role in preparing the next generation of effectiveminority teachers. While many MSIs struggle in significant part because of a lack offunds compared to peer institutions, a number of MSI teacher education programsdemonstrate better than average results despite being dramatically underfunded.According to a recent and extensive University of North Carolina study, FayettevilleState University, a non-selective and relatively low tuition school, consistently producesteachers who generate higher than average K-12 student academic achievement gains.Fayetteville State is more successful thancolleges with comparable incoming studentbody demographics and more successful than colleges that are have more selectiveadmissions requirements.11U.S. Department of Education, Secretary Arne Duncan’s Remarks to National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Educationon 6 November 201013