Indicator: Representational racial and ethnic diversity of educators Breadcrumb Home Indicators Representational Racial and Ethnic Diversity of Educators Definition Educators reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of the student body. Recommended Metric(s) Educational staff composition by race and ethnicity (%) compared to student composition by race and ethnicity (%)Same-race student–teacher ratio by race and ethnicity Type(s) of Data Needed Administrative data Why it matters Students benefit from being taught by a racially and ethnically diverse teaching staff, with students of color in particular benefiting from having teachers of their own race or ethnicity. Research links student-teacher race match to positive outcomes for students of color, including higher achievement;1 reduced experiences of exclusionary discipline;2 increased referrals for gifted and talented programs;3 decreased likelihood of dropping out of school;4 increased parental engagement;5 and better school adjustment.6 As just one example, when Black boys have a Black teacher, they are 15 to 18 percent less likely to be subjected to exclusionary discipline.7 However, Black and Latino teachers are underrepresented in the teaching force relative to the population of students. Whereas only 47 percent of U.S. elementary and secondary students in 2017 were White, 79 percent of teachers were White. Meanwhile, only 6 percent of teachers were Black, compared to 15 percent of students, and 9 percent of teachers were Latino, compared to 27 percent of students.8 At the postsecondary level, Black and Latino instructors are also underrepresented relative to the population of students attending college.9, 10, 11 What to know about measurement Administrative data systems regularly record the race and ethnicity of students and staff, though these data might be maintained in separate systems. Staff includes administrators, teachers and faculty, and support staff. For example, institution-level data on educator and student diversity are available publicly on a regular basis through the Common Core of Data for K–12 and Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) for postsecondary. Although these data are generally comparable, different systems do not always use the same race and ethnicity reporting categories. For example, IPEDS does not collect race and ethnicity for students who are “nonresident aliens,” who are placed into a mutually exclusive group.12 Source frameworks This indicator appeared in 12 source frameworks reviewed for this report. Our recommended approach aligns with work by StriveTogether, the National Research Council, and the Alliance for Resource Equity. References 12National Center for Education Statistics. (n.d.). Definitions for new race and ethnicity categories. Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), U.S. Department of Education. https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/report-your-data/race-ethnicity-definitions1Dee, T. S. (2004). Teachers, race, and student achievement in a randomized experiment. The Review of Economics and Statistics,86(1), 195–210. http://www.jstor.org/stable/32116672Lindsay, C. A., & Hart, C. M. D. (2017a). Exposure to same-race teachers and student disciplinary outcomes for black students in North Carolina. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis,39(3), 485–510. https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737176931093Grissom, J. A., & Redding, C. (2016). Discretion and disproportionality. AERAOpen, 2(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584156221754Gershenson, S., Hart, C. M. D., Hyman, J., Lindsay, C., & Papageorge, N. W. (2018). The long-run impacts of same-race teachers (EdWorkingPaper 19-43). Annenberg Institute at Brown University. https://doi.org/10.26300/9419-nw685Markowitz, A. J., Bassok, D., & Grissom, J. A. (2020). Teacher-child racial/ethnic match and parental engagement with head start. American Educational Research Journal, 57(5), 2132–2174. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312198993566Downer, J. T., Goble, P., Myers, S. S., & Pianta, R. C. (2016). Teacher-child racial/ethnic match within pre-kindergarten classrooms and children’s early school adjustment. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 37, 26–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2016.02.0077Lindsay, C. A., & Hart, C. M. (2017b). Teacher race and school discipline. Education Next, 17(1). https://www.educationnext.org/teacher-race-and-school-discipline-suspensions-research/8National Center for Education Statistics. (2020). Race and ethnicity of public-school teachers and their students. Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2020/2020103/index.asp9Davis, L., & Fry, R. (2019). College faculty have become more racially and ethnically diverse, but remain far less so than students. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/07/31/us-college-faculty-student-diversity/10Li, D., & Koedel, C. (2017). Representation and salary gaps by race-ethnicity and gender at selective public universities. Educational Researcher, 46(7), 343–354. https://doi.org/10.3102%2F0013189X1772653511Espinosa, L. L., Turk, J. M., Taylor, M., & Chessman, H. M. (2019). Race and ethnicity in higher education: A status report. American Council on Education. https://www.equityinhighered.org/resources/report-downloads/