TEACHER DIVERSITY

When one looks at these declines in workforce shares as changes in the actual numbers of Black teachers—the
trend made visible to students, families and communities in classrooms and schools—the extent of these losses
can seem staggering. The following table, CON-3, collects teacher population changes for the cities studied. It
shows that Black teachers have experienced substantial losses in every city, comprising a disproportionately
large share of overall reductions in these cities’ teaching forces.
CON-3: CHANGES (PERCENTAGE POINTS) IN TEACHER POPULATION OVERALL AND BY RACE AND ETHNICITY
CITY* OVERALL WHITE
TEACHERS
BLACK
TEACHERS
HISPANIC
TEACHERS
BOSTON -3.3 -0.8 -18.3 +1.1
CHICAGO -13.4 -3.2 -39.2 +6.4
CLEVELAND -17.4 -12.0 -33.9 -9.4
LOS ANGELES -16.9 -28.0 -33.2 +6.5
NEW ORLEANS -44.4 +3.3 -62.3 +43.5**
NEW YORK CITY -2.0 -1.9 -15.1 +2.4
PHILADELPHIA +12.7*** +26.8 -18.5 +26.6
SAN FRANCISCO -11.9 -21.9 -32.4 +8.1
*For reasons explained in the city profile, Washington, D.C., data for this table are not available.
**While the percentage growth of Hispanic teachers in New Orleans is quite high, there were only 62 Hispanic teachers in the 2002 baseline, so
there was only a modest increase in actual numbers.
***The overall growth rate for Philadelphia is inflated. We were not able to obtain the full 10 years of data for the charter sector, and so the
starting point reflects only district numbers. Unlike the charter sectors in Boston, Chicago and New York City, where we also lack a full 10 years
of data but where there are a relatively small number of schools at the start of the 10-year time span studied, there is a comparatively large
charter sector in Philadelphia that predates this time period. This means that we do not have a reliable baseline for the charter population. The
district sector has a 17 percent decrease in teacher population, and while the charter sector is growing, it is certainly not growing at a rate that
would produce an overall growth rate of 12.7 percent. It is most likely that Philadelphia, like the other eight cities, saw an overall loss in teachers
over the time we studied it.
Did seniority-based layoffs play any role in the declining numbers of Black teachers? We have found no such
evidence. Although we cannot identify teachers who left our datasets due to layoffs specifically, it is highly unlikely
that seniority-based layoffs would result in a disproportionate number of Black teachers being dismissed
unless Black teachers were overrepresented among inexperienced teachers (particularly among teachers in
their first three years), relative to teachers of other races and ethnicities. In those cities/sectors where we have
data on experience, this was not the case.
While further research should be done to establish the full extent of these declines and their causes, the emerging
pattern can only be described as alarming. There is a clear need for targeted interventions aimed at reversing
these losses.
Hispanics are the fastest-growing student demographic in America’s public schools. 2 As a consequence, the
Hispanic share of the teaching force must also grow quickly to simply prevent a wider representation gap from
opening up between Hispanic teachers and students. But while teacher workforce trends for Hispanics are
more positive than those for Blacks when it comes to shares of the workforce, the Hispanic share of the teacher
workforce in most of the cities studied is either growing only modestly or experiencing no growth at all (see
CON-2). Los Angeles stands out as the one city that has seen significant growth of the Hispanic teacher share in
both the district and charter sectors.
Viewed from the vantage point of changes in the teacher population, the results for Hispanics are better, but
2 William Hussar and Tabitha Bailey, Projection of Education Statistics to 2022. Washington, D.C.: National Center for Education Statistics,
U.S. Department of Education, 2014. p. 5.
ALBERT SHANKER INSTITUTE 95 THE STATE OF TEACHER DIVERSITY