Why Teaching Faculty Diversity (Still) Matters

Peabody Journal of Education: Issues of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations, Vol. 89, No. 3

Asabe W. Poloma , Institute for Recruitment of Teachers, Phillips Academy Andover

ABSTRACT

Students in schools, colleges, and universities are rapidly becoming more diverse while the teaching workforce has failed to keep pace. The underrepresentation of minority teachers on school faculties persists despite efforts by successful national teacher recruitment programs, such as the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers, to redress this persistent gap. Several factors influencing this gap, including retention, job satisfaction, and working conditions of teachers of color, are briefly summarized. However, the current economic conditions and academic job market retrenchment as well as the dramatic and ever-rising costs of graduate education in the United States threatens to affect the enrollment and aspirations of students of color interested in careers in education, despite the long-standing efforts and successes of these programs.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Asabe W. Poloma is a doctoral student in the Higher Education program of the Department of Leadership in Education at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Since 2008, she has served as the Director of Phillips Academy's Institute for Recruitment of Teachers in Andover, Massachusetts