According to an article in The Plain Dealer, a Cleveland, Ohio newspaper, North Carolina?s own Center for Teaching Quality in North Carolina released a study finding that minorities make up only 6 percent of Ohio?s teachers, while about 14 percent of the student population is minority.
This statistical gap is a national issue. Black or Hispanic teachers represent about 7 percent of the nation?s teaching force. Some believe a ?more-diverse? faculty would reverse negative performance trends seen in minority students.
New efforts to enlist minority students into teaching exist around the country, but the root of the problem lies in preparing black and Hispanic students for high school graduation.
No wonder there are fewer minorities in the teaching profession. Looking at graduation rates from high school and college in our own state gives insight. Only 60 percent of blacks, and 51.8 percent of Hispanics graduate from high school in North Carolina. Education Trust reports that only 41 percent of blacks that go to college in our state graduate in six years (did not list Hispanic figures).
Hard to recruit more minorities into teaching when almost half fail to graduate from high school and more than half of those going to college do not graduate. The education establishment is failing to do its job K-12th grade, and saying the problem lies with the lack of diversity within the faculty is disingenuous.