Students Stand to Benefit from Diverse Teachers
By Norah Laughter
A morning at Greenwood High School begins with students walking the halls as they head to their first block class, often conversing with friends about the things they have to do that day. Teachers stand outside their doors, waving good morning to students and chatting with coworkers. Some remain hidden in their classrooms, drinking their morning coffee as they finalize the day’s plans.
Any spectator would quickly notice that the student body contains a variety of racial backgrounds, with 28% of the student body being non-white. Upon looking at the teachers, however, they would notice that they were lacking in diversity, contrary to the student population.
According to the 2019–2020 Equity Scorecard released by the Warren County Public Schools Equity Council, 95.3% of the district’s teachers are white, compared to 65.7% of the student body.
The statewide percentages are highly comparable to my school district, with 95.2% of teachers and 75.7% of students being white.
What does this mean for the students of color? It is abundantly clear that the percentage of non-white teachers is nowhere near the percentage of non-white students. Over 150,000 students across the state of Kentucky are attending a school where the people with authority do not look like them.
These gaps affect the education that non-white students receive. One study found that Black teachers have much higher academic expectations for Black pupils than white teachers do for Black students. The study highlighted the importance of demographic matching for minority success in the classroom.
This concept is not specific to African Americans; the study found that when students and teachers of any racial or ethnic background share the same identity, that teacher will have higher expectations for their success. Proportionally hiring teachers that reflect the demographics of the student body can increase graduation rates of minority students, especially Black males, as proven by the IZA Institute of Labor Economics.
Having diverse faculty doesn’t only benefit students of color. Students will be exposed to a wider variety of cultures and ethnicities, thus expanding their knowledge of the world. Because I am a white student in a predominantly white district, I am not the demographic most affected by these disparities. However, I believe all students also stand to gain from increased diversity within the classroom.
Having people of color in a position of authority also encourages white children to broaden their perspectives, ultimately teaching children about respect. When white students are introduced to a variety of backgrounds and races in school, they become more equipped to enter the world around them because they are improving their attitudes towards minority individuals, bettering the tolerance of that student.
One study concluded that both students of color and white students have positive perceptions of teachers of color, citing that the teachers of color make them feel cared for, with others reporting that they felt more academically challenged in the classroom.
However, students across Kentucky have not been able to experience the benefits of a diverse teaching staff. We need comprehensive measures to address the current disparities in classroom diversity.
In response, the Kentucky Academy for Equity in Teaching was relaunched this year in early March by Gov. Andy Beshear. KAET is an initiative to improve the overall diversity of Kentucky educators, focusing on increasing the number of teachers from previously underrepresented races, ethnicities, gender identities, and economic backgrounds. It also aims to recruit more teachers with disabilities.
KAET focuses on removing recruitment barriers and keeping minority educators in the workforce with their “Inspire, Prepare and Educate” approach, which includes a grant program to identify potential future educators and offer individualized support for participants. It will also focus on unconscious bias training for all Kentucky public school educators.
Kentucky students deserve to reap the benefits of a diverse teacher workforce, which is why funding KAET is exactly what Kentucky legislators should be pursuing right now. Maintaining the longevity of the program is absolutely vital for core educational equity reform.
Norah Laughter is a junior at Greenwood High School in Warren County.
The opinions expressed on the Forum represent the individual students to whom they are attributed. They do not reflect the official position or opinion of the Kentucky Student Voice Team. Read about our policies.
