Research repeatedly demonstrates that a diverse teacher workforce benefits all students. But how diverse is it? How is it changing over time? And how does the diversity of the teacher workforce compare to the broader population in each state and across the country? Answers to these questions (and others) can help education leaders and policymakers at every level understand where we are and make decisions on where we want to be and how to get there—but it all hinges on good data.
That’s why the National Council on Teacher Quality launched this dashboard. We bring together hard-to-access federal data to illuminate important trends across the country to advance our collective goal of a more diverse teacher workforce.
When considering the need for more teachers from historically disadvantaged groups, including Black and Hispanic teachers, advocates often compare the diversity of the teacher workforce to student populations. While this is meaningful (it’s important that students see themselves reflected in their teachers!), it’s not realistic to expect parity between teachers and students because younger generations will always be more racially diverse than older generations. Comparing the diversity of the teacher workforce to working age adults, or working age adults with degrees, or even the population of newer teachers provides a much more meaningful and actionable approach.
Comparing the representation of specific demographic groups within the teacher workforce to the population of new full-time teachers allows users to assess the likelihood of the teacher workforce becoming more or less diverse over time.
Comparing the diversity of the teacher workforce against that of working-age adults shows how representative the teaching profession is of the adult population in a given locale, which can help users understand the trajectory of efforts to close the diversity gap.
Comparing the diversity of the teacher workforce against that of working-age adults with degrees provides direct insight into the success of diversification efforts since working-age adults with degrees represent people who could serve as teachers.
Comparing the diversity of the teacher workforce to the student population provides an unrealistic target for teacher diversity given the current demographics of the United States, but still offers important insight into the likelihood that students will have the opportunity to benefit from a teacher of color or see themselves reflected in their teachers.
The NCTQ Teacher Diversity Dashboard compares the diversity of the current teacher workforce and each of these four comparison groups across multiple years. By examining trends over time, we can identify patterns, begin to predict outcomes if no action is taken, and set data-informed goals for the future.
We don’t just give a snapshot of where things stand today. We put a spotlight on the earliest part of the teacher pipeline: colleges and universities with teacher prep programs. The dashboard illuminates the leaders and the laggards—those who are recruiting and preparing cohorts of students that will help diversify the teacher workforce and those that will hinder progress. This data provides clear signals about where additional efforts and resources are needed.
NCTQ sources the data presented in the dashboard from four federal datasets:
| Teacher workforce demographics | State-level demographics on working-age adults and working-age adults with college degrees | Student demographics | Preparation program demographics |
|---|---|---|---|
Including data on new teachers are from the Elementary-Secondary Staff Information Report (EEO-5) produced by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.1 | American Community Survey (ACS) published by the U.S. Census Bureau.2 We define working-age adults as those ages 21 to 65.3 | Digest of Education Statistics produced by the National Center for Education Statistics.4 | U.S. Department of Education under Title II of the Higher Education Act.5 |
NCTQ uses the seven racial and ethnic categories defined by the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, National Center for Education Statistics, and U.S. Census Bureau.6 Those categories are American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black/African American, Hispanic, Islander/Pacific Native, two or more races, and White. The aggregation of Persons of Color is inclusive of all demographic groups except White, while Historically Disadvantaged Groups includes five racial/ethnic groups:
Each year in the workforce trends graph represents a five-year average. As a result, the findings reported for 2022 represent data from 2018 to 2022. Additional years of data will be added to the workforce trends graph once new figures for a majority of the five trendlines come available.
The graph focused on the contributions of preparation programs uses three year sums to determine the percentages for institutions. Those figures are then compared against the most recent five-year averages for the teacher workforce and working-age adults with degrees.
