California, Texas and D.C. Are Tops in Teacher Diversity, Report Finds
California, Texas and Washington, D.C., lead the nation in teacher diversity, according to a recent report by the National Council on Teacher Quality.
While the nation's college-educated workforce overall is diversifying more quickly than the teaching pool, the NCTQ found that California, Texas, and Washington, D.C., are following the opposite trajectory. But the nonprofit questions some of the methods used to increase diversity, such as alternative pathways or lower standards for teacher certification, said Ron Noble, the council's chief of teacher preparation.
'We found that places like Texas are achieving [more teacher diversity], but with policies that have us concerned about the long-term health of the teacher pipeline,' Noble said. 'California and Washington, D.C., offer potential bright spots that might not have that same pitfall.'
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter
Related
NCTQ's report follows its December launch of a teacher diversity dashboard that tracks the racial makeup of U.S. educator corps from 2014 to 2022. Noble said the organization is focusing on educator workforce diversity because employing teachers of color improves academic, social, emotional and behavior outcomes for students.
'We really want states to be deliberate and intentional in — and careful how they go about — achieving the goal of a diverse workforce,' Noble said.
Teachers from historically disadvantaged groups in the U.S. make up nearly 23% of working-age adults with degrees but 21% of the teacher workforce, according to the dashboard.
In Texas, 35% of college-educated adults are from historically disadvantaged groups, compared with 43% of teachers. But researchers found that behind the high diversity number were flawed alternative certification programs and uncertified teachers — both of which became more common with educator shortages during the pandemic.
In the 2021-22 school year, 51% of Texas teachers completed alternative certification programs, compared with an average of 19% in other states, according to NCTQ. Alternative pathways are more diverse than traditional programs: One study found that Black Texas teachers were more than three times as likely to pursue alternative certification than a more common route like a bachelor's degree.
Related
Noble said researchers found that the majority of alternative programs in Texas are fully online and that graduates can become teachers with little to no classroom experience. A 2024 Texas Tech University study found that online alternative pathways have a higher turnover rate than other teacher preparation programs.
'They are thrown right into a high-stakes environment,' he said. 'It's not surprising that there are people leaving the profession.'
The number of uncertified teachers is also growing in Texas classrooms. Last year, state data reported that 34% of newly hired teachers in Texas were uncertified. The NCTQ report says racial demographics of uncertified teachers aren't tracked, making it hard for policymakers to understand the impact on the future diversity of the educator workforce.
In California, nearly 33% of the teachers come from historically disadvantaged groups, compared with 27% of college-educated adults.
The NCTQ report says California's effort to prioritize teacher diversity, invest in educator training and track industry data are reasons why diversity rates are higher than the norm. The state has invested more than $1 billion in recent years to strengthen the teacher workforce. Advocates have built a diversity road map and plan to launch a teacher training and retention dashboard later this year to track demographic and employment data.
NCTQ said in its report that California has lowered standards for teacher candidates to enter the profession. A bill that passed in June allows for a bachelor's degree in any subject to be the sole qualifier for admission into most teacher preparation programs.
NCTQ also cited Washington, D.C., for its high diversity rates, though its trendlines are not on the same trajectory as California's and Texas's. In 2022, 69% of educators came from historically disadvantaged groups, a drop from 77% in 2020. Adults with college degrees from these groups were reported at 35% in 2022.
'It would be easy to explain away D.C.'s teacher diversity by pointing out that it is a city, not a state, and cities are typically more diverse than states,' the report says. 'However, comparing D.C.'s teacher and student demographics to those in other large cities in the United States suggests D.C.'s approach to diversifying the teacher workforce is yielding results.'
The NCTQ report shows that the teacher workforce in Washington, D.C., more closely mirrored its student population than those of other districts of similar size and student demographics.
Related
About 87% of the district's student population are people of color, as is 74% of the teacher workforce. Researchers found that Atlanta Public Schools was the only demographically similar district that had a smaller student-to-teacher diversity gap.
The report credits consistent prioritization of educator diversity and innovative teacher preparation pathways for the high percentages in Washington, D.C. The region established 'Grow Your Own' preparation programs with university partners and has implemented a centralized hiring process that yields more diverse candidates.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
Naval Academy Reinstates Hundreds of ‘DEI' Books
This article was originally published in The 19th. This story was originally reported by Nadra Nittle and Mariel Padilla of The 19th. When the U.S. Naval Academy stripped 381 books tied to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) from its library, retired Commander William Marks saw more than censorship — he saw a threat to the Navy's future. But last week, after immense public outcry, most of those books returned to Nimitz Library shelves. 'Do you believe it?' asked Marks, a 1996 alum who spearheaded a campaign to maintain student access to the books. 'What great news. We're thrilled.' Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter All the books the academy removed in early April had one thing in common: Officials flagged them for DEI themes. They include Maya Angelou's 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,' Harper Lee's 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and Elizabeth Reis' 'Bodies in Doubt: An American History of Intersex.' The purge followed directives from Trump-appointed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has called DEI initiatives 'divisive.' Determined to ensure that students could still read the works, Marks began crowdfunding to replace them on April 5. 'The motto of the Naval Academy is 'from knowledge, seapower,'' said Marks, who served as a Navy commander for 22 years. 'What we mean is without knowledge, education and intellectual growth, we will never become a strong Navy. So this contradiction really struck me, that instead of encouraging knowledge and encouraging discussion, the Pentagon was actually suppressing knowledge and limiting discussion.' About 4,400 students, members of the Brigade of Midshipmen, attend the Naval Academy while on active duty in the U.S. Navy. After graduation, they are required to serve in the Navy or Marine Corps for at least five years. Women represent more than a quarter of the student body, while men make up over 70 percent of midshipmen. Initially, Marks hoped to fundraise $3,810, which he figured would be enough to cover the cost of the books pulled from Nimitz Library. Since Marks lives in Arlington, Texas, he tapped Old Fox Books & Coffeehouse in Annapolis, Maryland, home to the academy, to be his local partner. Donations have far exceeded his goal, topping $70,000. Jinny Amundson, an owner of Old Fox Books, said by the time she got the call from Marks, she had already heard about the books removed and had started compiling a list of them to purchase for the store's inventory. 'For a bookseller, the idea of censoring any kind of books just gives us heart palpitations,' Amundson said. 'And it's our community. The [midshipmen] think of our shop as a place that they love and one of their sort of unofficial bookstores. We have the mids, the faculty, the administration that come in and think of our space as their own.' Amundson said she understood that the removal of books was an order, which has to be followed within the military. But she found the loophole: Her bookshop could store the titles targeted. It is conveniently located about a block away from the Naval Academy gates. The day before the institution's May 23 graduation, Amundson learned that most of the pulled books were back on the library's shelves. She went to see for herself, took pictures of the books and sent them to many of the authors, who had personally contacted her when the restrictions on the works took effect. Now, just 20 books are being sequestered pending a formal compliance review, according to the Department of Defense. A Navy spokesperson did not provide details to The 19th about those titles. Ultimately, a narrowing of the search terms used to flag books for review resulted in the return of hundreds of books to the Nimitz Library, as the Department of Defense first issued broad guidance about book removals to the military services. 'What struck me was the very arbitrary and even cruel nature of the books that got removed,' Marks said. 'These books were a cross-section of American culture. They were important to the discussion of American history.' In an updated May 9 memo, the Pentagon instructed the military services to use 20 search terms to pinpoint books in their academic libraries that might need to be set aside because of how they engage race or gender. Among those terms were affirmative action; critical race theory; gender-affirming care; transgender people; and diversity, equity and inclusion. People across the political spectrum expressed alarm about the book restrictions, which have been widely opposed, according to Marks. 'We really shouldn't be banning any books,' he said. That includes those with unpopular, or even offensive, ideas like Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf,' which managed to evade the Naval Academy's book purge, he noted. He calls his effort to maintain the midshipmen's access to all books in the Nimitz Library Operation Caged Bird, after the 1969 Angelou memoir that was likely targeted because it describes racial segregation and child abuse. The name Operation Caged Bird also alludes to the feeling of being restrained by censorship. 'I almost felt like I could feel the bars closing in on me in terms of what I can read and can't read,' Marks said. 'That didn't sit right.' Marks' GoFundMe campaign has raised enough money to supply 1,000 books in 2025 and fund a three-year initiative at Old Fox, ensuring midshipmen can access any contested title for free. 'If you're a midshipman and you're writing an essay paper and there's a book you can't find, maybe it's been removed or banned, you can call them, and they'll order it for you, and then you just pick it up free of charge,' Marks said. He's also coordinating with other service academies, anticipating similar battles. At the Navy's three other educational institutions, fewer than 20 books have been flagged as potentially incompatible with the military's mission, as have a few dozen at the Air Force Academy and other Air Force academic institutions. The Army has also been ordered to assess library books at its educational institutions, but a spokesperson from West Point told The 19th that no books have been pulled at this time, as its compliance review is still underway. The return of nearly 400 books to the Naval Academy library coincides with a pending lawsuit accusing Department of Defense-run schools of violating K-12 students' constitutional rights for limiting books and subject matter related to gender, race and sexuality. The American Civil Liberties Union filed E.K. v. Department of Defense Education Activity in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on behalf of 12 students. A hearing will take place June 3. The ACLU seeks a preliminary injunction to give the youth access to materials it argues have been restricted to align with President Donald Trump's executive orders and political agenda. Amundson said she was pleasantly surprised that it took just weeks for the books to be returned to the Naval Academy. 'I believe that what happened and the response that was given in Annapolis — I think that made the administration be much more careful this time around as they're going for these other libraries, the other Department of Defense libraries around the world,' she said. Amundson said using the funds raised from the GoFundMe campaign, the bookstore was able to give away nearly 500 books in the days leading up to the Naval Academy graduation. For weeks, letters of support piled up and people stopped by the bookstore with gratitude, some even driving from hours away to show their support in person. In addition to Operation Caged Bird, Amundson said there were 'powerful arms at work.' There was pushback on the book removals from members of Congress, the Naval Academy's Board of Visitors and the superintendent — who wrote an open letter signed by hundreds of alumni. 'For right now, this was a huge win for us,' Amundson said.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Amid Calls to Close Ed Dept., Schwinn Promises to Aid ‘Most Struggling Schools'
Despite strong opposition to her nomination from some conservative groups, Penny Schwinn faced relatively light questioning from senators Thursday as she seeks to become second in charge of the U.S. Department of Education. Though Democrats probed where she stands on President Donald Trump's plan to shutter the department, the former Tennessee education commissioner appeared to answer questions to their satisfaction. Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Democratic Sen. Maggie Hasan of New Hampshire homed in on the administration's move to end grants to train and hire K-12 school mental health professionals — part of a 2022 law that passed with bipartisan support. Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter 'Do you think that what the department did helps or hurts the communities that were counting on the funding that they were promised?' she asked. 'If confirmed, do you commit to reigning in the chaos and operational failures that we are seeing at the department?' Schwinn said the department will open a new competition for those grants and promised to 'have an efficient, effective and outcomes-oriented department.' Related She voiced support for Trump's ultimate goal to eliminate the department and repeatedly said states and local communities are in the best position to make decisions about education. As a charter school founder who served in the Delaware and Texas education agencies before leading Tennessee's for four years, Schwinn has a reputation for working across the aisle. She pushed for reading reforms and using pandemic relief funds to implement a statewide tutoring program. A vote on her confirmation is expected in the coming days. 'What we need to do is ensure that we've created a system that is going to drive outcomes,' she told GOP Sen. Jim Banks of Indiana. 'That is not going to happen from the federal government, whether there's a Department of Education or not.' At the same time, Schwinn implied that there is a role for the department in ensuring states intervene in their lowest-performing schools. 'There must be a commitment to ensuring that our most struggling schools improve because our students deserve that,' she said. A 2024 report from the Government Accountability Office found that less than half of states are meeting those requirements under the Every Student Succeeds Act. Schwinn's tenure in Tennessee, for example, included overseeing a state turnaround effort known as the Achievement School District. Considering it a failure, the state legislature recently shut it down and will try another approach. 'There's real tension there,' Thomas Toch, director of FutureEd, a think tank at Georgetown University, told The 74. 'Will the Trump administration make a meaningful commitment to school improvement? Or will [Education Secretary Linda] McMahon and her team dodge that responsibility in the name of local control?' Some observers have called Schwinn a smart pick for her focus on improving reading achievement and her attempts to avoid some of the more divisive culture war debates of the post-pandemic era. But to others she has a troubled track record that includes contracts with vendors that gave the appearance of a conflict of interest. On Wednesday, The 74 reported that after Trump nominated her, she registered a new business in Florida with a longtime colleague. While the venture was ultimately dissolved, Schwinn's sister replaced her as a manager a few weeks before the nominee submitted her financial disclosure documents. Related Some parent groups have vehemently opposed her nomination, viewing her as more left-leaning than most Trump nominees. 'It amazes me that President Trump would consider Penny Schwinn conservative,' said Tiffany Boyd, a homeschool advocate who opposed Schwinn's plan to conduct well-being checks on students during the pandemic. Schwinn nixed the idea after strong backlash. Boyd also cited a teacher recruitment effort that focused, in part, on attracting more teachers of color — efforts that the department now says push 'illegal diversity, equity and inclusion.' But none of that surfaced during the hearing. Even Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who has vowed to fight the 'left's indoctrination of students,' opted to skip direct questions to Schwinn and said he would submit them in writing. The committee interviewed Schwinn as part of a panel, along with Kimberly Richey, Trump's choice to lead the Office for Civil Rights, and two Department of Labor nominees. In that format, the senators focused on issues most important to them — for example, Chairman Bill Cassidy emphasized better serving students with dyslexia. 'As the Department of Education streamlines educational funding, how can we ensure that resources are there to identify and address an issue, specifically speaking of dyslexia?' he asked. Schwinn touted Tennessee's move to include 'characteristics of dyslexia' as a disability category in its state education funding formula and ramp up screening of students' early reading skills. The federal government, she said, could do a better job of guiding states on this issue and sharing lessons from states that have posted the greatest gains in literacy, like Mississippi and Louisiana. Related Some advocates are eager to have an educator who prioritized reading instruction at the department. 'We love her track record of improving student outcomes in Tennessee and talking a bit more technically about literacy and the science of reading — which we think having leadership on the federal level around is going to be key,' said Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Foundation. But she stressed that it was federally funded research, now at risk under the Trump administration, that informed those improvements. 'The research and the funding for all these 'state miracles,' ' she said, 'come from regional and federal efforts — which I think a lot of folks are forgetting.'
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
As lawmakers tried to name an official steak, Texas students learned how to find the best beef
LUBBOCK — Steaks are serious business in Texas. If you need proof of that, just count the meat judging trophies at Texas Tech University. 'Texans love to compete, it doesn't matter what it is,' said Mark Miller, a professor of meat science at Texas Tech. 'It's no different when you get into the agricultural world and meat judging.' It's right up there with football, Miller said. Nearly 400 miles from Lubbock, there was a different sort of meat competition at the Texas Capitol this year. State Rep. Ken King, R-Canadian, sought to designate the tomahawk ribeye as the official steak of Texas. He did this after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called on the Senate to rename the New York strip steak to the Texas strip and designate it as the state's official steak. The success of the beef industry has energized meat judging in the state over the decades. Along with Texas Tech, Texas A&M, West Texas A&M, and Clarendon College are just a few Texas schools with accomplished meat judging teams and full trophy cases. While lawmakers didn't designate an official steak, teams around Texas are preparing for the next season of competition. And in Texas, where beef is considered king, meat judging has become just as big of a point of pride. Lawmakers had fun with the debate. Speaker Dustin Burrows, a Lubbock Republican, had a cookout at the Capitol. Patrick posted a photo of the 'first ever' Texas Strip with 'Gulf of America' shrimp, inspired by President Donald Trump's executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. On the House floor, King ribbed his colleagues in the upper chamber, saying they were trying to do 'Senate things' with an inferior cut of meat. Neither Mexico nor other international organizations recognize the Gulf name change. Similarly, New Yorkers did not take the rebrand attempt lightly. One 'power publicist' threatened to file a $1 million lawsuit. Some Texans left public comments voicing their annoyance with the legislation, but King contended there was a bigger meaning — to honor the generations of Texans who built up the cattle industry that adds $15.5 billion to the economy. Beef production has always been central to Texas life, he said. Part of the beef industry is the need for quality control, which has evolved into the highly competitive sport of college meat judging. Students who are trained to evaluate the best cuts of meat — lamb, pork, and of course, beef. The students rank the meat by several factors, including the fat thickness and how lean it is. They examine the marbling of the cut, its size and weight. 'The competition level between Texas universities is at the highest level,' Miller said. 'There's a lot of priority put on being highly successful in meat judging.' Since Texas Tech University won its first national championship for meat judging in 1989, teams from the school have won 15 national championships. The school's meat laboratory has several rooms dedicated to different purposes. This includes cooler rooms to store the meat, and one to hang meat while it ages. Students can use an X-ray machine in another room to examine the composition of muscles and other details. The meat doesn't go to waste. Raider Red Meats, which began in 2008, is a student-run store that sells all the meat that is prepared, cut, and packaged in-house. It sells a variety of products, including steaks, green chile and cheese sausage, thick-cut bacon, and chunks of fat for beef tallow. Blake Foraker, a coach for the meat judging team, said the storefront is used to provide scholarships to students involved in the Meat Science program. 'This helps to offset some of those costs so that students can be afforded these opportunities,' said Foraker, an assistant professor at Texas Tech. 'Whether it's on the judging team, working in the meat lab, or pursuing meat science education in general.' Raider Red Meats provided the steaks for Burrows' function in March, where members from both chambers were invited to taste the differences between the strip and the tomahawk ribeye. Zach Buckley, production manager at Raider Red Meats, said they cut the steaks fresh that day and sent them to the Capitol. According to Buckley, Raider Red Meats is one of the few stores in the area that cuts a full tomahawk. Buckley likes strips, but said he prefers the tomahawk. He admits it's partially because of the presentation. 'Part of it is pride: you have a full rib and then a thick steak,' Buckley said. 'Then, if you do it right, you can get that bone and go caveman-style, eat right off the bone.' The team is starting their slow season since classes are out, but is expecting steady business this summer. 'We went from having a little shop to a business that ships to all 50 states,' said Abigail Sleep, one of the students working at the shop. 'We're the only college that's inspected by the USDA. We want to do this to the best of our ability.' While Texas lawmakers did not settle their debate, meat judging at Texas Tech and other state universities is helping settle arguments about which cuts of steak are the best Texas has to offer. Texas Tech's team will host their annual BBQ and Ribeye Championship on Aug. 15 and 16. Disclosure: Texas Tech University has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here. First round of TribFest speakers announced! Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Maureen Dowd; U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio; Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker; U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California; and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas are taking the stage Nov. 13–15 in Austin. Get your tickets today!
