Black and Latino students are still more likely than their peers to have teachers with one year or less of experience in the classroom, despite years-long federal efforts to change that trend, concludes a new analysis. The disparities are the largest for Black students.
The from the Education Trust, a civil rights group that advocates for more accountability of low-performing school districts, look at data from the U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 2017-18 Civil Rights Data Collection.
They compare rates of novice teachers鈥攄efined as those in their first or second year of teaching鈥攊n schools with high percentages of Black and Latino students to schools with lower percentages of Black and Latino students.
When newer teachers are unevenly distributed in this way, the report argues, students of color are losing out.
New teachers are less experienced than those who have been in the classroom for longer, and research has shown that teachers with more years under their belt to increase student motivation and academic achievement. And if the same students have new teachers year after year, the on instruction.
鈥淭his is a racial justice issue,鈥� said Sarah Mehrotra, a P-12 research and policy analyst at EdTrust, and the lead author of the reports. 鈥淭hese disparities have been happening for way too long.鈥�
Addressing them should be a priority for states and districts, she said, 鈥渆specially now as we鈥檙e facing these labor shortages and as we鈥檙e looking to pandemic recovery.鈥�
This new analysis comes on the heels of several years of initiatives to fix these disparities, because the patterns aren鈥檛 new: Analyses of 2011-12 data from the Education Department鈥檚 Office of Civil Rights found that Black, Latino, American Indian, and Native Alaskan students were more likely than white students to attend schools with a higher concentration of novice teachers. And again, Black students faced the sharpest inequities on this front.
In 2014, the U.S. Department of Education launched the Excellent Educators for All Initiative, which required states to develop teacher-equity plans that would ensure low-income students had access to good teachers. And the Every Student Succeeds Act, the current version of the main federal K-12 law, states that every student should be taught by an effective teacher.
鈥淲hen we take a hard look at this data, we see that there are really clear inequitable gaps. 鈥� I think this really suggests that we haven鈥檛 made enough progress,鈥� Mehrotra said.
Findings show different patterns for Black, Latino students
The EdTrust reports lay out why these disparities are such an intractable, systemic problem.
鈥淒ecades of discriminatory federal policy has led to an increasingly racially segregated school system in which students of color are concentrated in schools that are under鈥恟esourced,鈥� the report鈥檚 authors write. These schools tend to offer teachers less support and may not be able to provide the same level of compensation as schools in better-resourced districts.
鈥淒ue in part to poor working conditions and a lack of support, all teachers, particularly teachers of color, tend to leave these schools at a higher rate,鈥� the report reads.
The authors found that, on average, schools with the most Black students employ more novice teachers and more uncertified teachers than schools with the least. In schools with the largest Black student enrollments, 15 percent of teachers are novice teachers. In schools with the smallest, 10 percent of teachers are novices.
In some states, though, the gaps are much larger. See the state-by-state breakdown:
The picture is somewhat different for Latino students. In over half of all states, these same gaps exist: schools with more Latino students also have more novice teachers.
But in just a few states, those trends are reversed. In Louisiana and the District of Columbia, for example, schools with large Latino student bodies have fewer novice teachers than other schools. It鈥檚 unclear why the numbers are so different in these few areas, Mehrotra said.
See the state-by-state breakdown for Latino students:
The researchers also looked at the schools with the most novice teachers, which they defined as schools where 20 percent or more of teachers were in their first or second year in the profession.
Across the country, Black students were more likely to attend those schools. In a few states鈥擱hode Island, Pennsylvania, and Washington鈥擫atino students were also much more likely to attend these schools than other students.
Districts should 鈥榬eally look at what teacher supports they鈥檙e giving鈥�
For states and districts addressing this issue, the first step is to gather data, Mehrotra said. Who鈥檚 entering the teacher workforce, and how many are staying? How many teachers are novices, and where are they placed? Education agencies can use that data to set new goals, Mehrotra said.
The reports offer a host of policy solutions, from paying teachers more to work in high-need districts, to providing teachers with more mentoring, to supporting and hiring more school leaders of color鈥攚ho are more likely to attract and retain teachers of color.
But the pandemic adds a layer of challenge to any efforts to nurture and keep good teachers, said Mehrotra.
鈥淩ight now, districts are facing this immediate problem of pandemic-related burnout,鈥� she said.
Federal COVID-relief money can play a role here, she added. State leaders could put stimulus dollars toward retention efforts during this period, and districts could spend on social-emotional supports for students, which would take some of the burden off of teachers.
鈥淥ne thing I would encourage districts to do is to really look at what teacher supports they鈥檙e giving right now,鈥� she said.
