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Podcasts Take Two
Teachers in US not as diverse as their students
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May 6, 2014
Listen • 5:47
Teachers in US not as diverse as their students
While the nation's students are growing more diverse, the make-up of teachers in public school classrooms is lagging behind.
Kindergarten students use a concentric circle graph to map the similarities and differences between Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King. This social studies lesson usually happens in 4th grade, says teacher Diana Enciso.
Kindergarten students use a concentric circle graph to map the similarities and differences between Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King. This social studies lesson usually happens in 4th grade, says teacher Diana Enciso.
(
Deepa Fernandes / KPCC
)

While the nation's students are growing more diverse, the make-up of teachers in public school classrooms is lagging behind.

While the nation's students are growing more diverse, the make-up of teachers in public school classrooms is lagging behind.

Right now, 82 percent of public school teachers in this country are white. That's despite the fact that nearly half their students are minorities. Last week, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan projected that this Fall's class of public school students will — for the first time in U.S. history —be mostly non white.

For more on what's behind this disparity and the effect it has on the classroom, we turn to Segun Eubanks, director of teacher quality at the National Education Association. The organization is releasing a new report called "Time for a Change: Diversity in Teaching Revisited."