EPIC IN THE NEWS
Plenty of Black college students want to be teachers, but something keeps derailing them
DATE: July 10, 2023
A growing problem in American classrooms is that teachers don’t resemble the students they teach. Eighty percent of the nation’s 3.8 million public school teachers are white, but over half of their students are Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American and mixed races. The small slice of Black teachers has actually shrunk slightly over the past decade from 7 percent in 2011–12 to 6 percent in 2020–21, while Black students make up a much larger 15 percent share of the public school student population.
A Black teacher can make a positive difference for Black children. Research has shown that Black students are less likely to be suspended and more likely to be placed in gifted classes when they are taught by Black teachers. Studies have often found that Black students learn more from same race teachers.
There are many reasons for the paucity of Black teachers. But a June 2023 analysis of college students in Michigan highlights a particularly leaky part of the teacher pipeline: teacher preparation programs inside colleges and universities.
At the start of college, Michigan’s Black students are almost as interested in teaching as white students, the report found. But Black students are far less likely to complete teacher preparation programs and become certified teachers. There’s a surprisingly large drop in prospective Black teachers as they’re finishing their coursework and about to start teaching internships in classrooms.
“There are a lot of potentially great educators who just aren’t making it to the classroom,” said Tara Kilbride, lead author of the analysis conducted by Education Policy Innovation Collaborative (EPIC), a research center at Michigan State University.
Read the full article here.
