Mass. teachers far less diverse than students
The Massachusetts public school student population has grown increasingly diverse in recent years, but the state’s teaching force has remained overwhelmingly white — a worrisome mismatch that, studies show, reduces minority student performance.
Minorities accounted for 37 percent of public school enrollment in the last full school year, but only 7.1 percent of the teaching staff, according to records from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for 2015-2016.
“I think if we’re serious about closing achievement gaps, then we’ve got to treat this like it’s a crisis,” said Kim M. Janey, senior project director for the nonprofit Massachusetts Advocates for Children.
Altogether, school staffs — including teachers plus other workers — are less racially and ethnically diverse than their student bodies in more than 99 percent of public school districts statewide.
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