Study: Efforts To Recruit Black Teachers Bears Fruit

The Philadelphia Inquirer (10/25) reports on a study by a pair of University of Pennsylvania researchers which found that "efforts to recruit more minority teachers had been successful," noting that "Government agencies and nonprofits have pumped a lot of money into programs that prepare and recruit minority teachers. School folks often talk about hiring more teachers of color as a strategy to narrow the achievement gap between white and minority students, a gap that schools across the country still struggle with." The researchers found that over half of US states have programs to recruit minority teachers, and that ED and census data show that "the teaching force is much more diverse than it was 20 years ago. In many ways, the minority teacher recruitment push has been successful."