Fast forward to now, and that glimmer of hope has faded as teachers are now under a microscope with attacks on what they can teach or and are having to put their own health on the line to continue teaching.

It should come as no surprise, then, that there is a crisis happening in our nation’s classrooms as more teachers are opting for retirement, resignation or a career change instead of remaining in the profession. 

Underlying this crisis is one that has also existed for decades, and less people are talking about: We are losing an at a time when the diversity of our students continues to grow. The real measure of whether or not we are able to build back our education system from this pandemic will lie in whether or not we are able to recruit and retain more Black, Latino, Asian Pacific Islander and indigenous educators in the years to come.

Nationally, students of color now make up of the K-12 student population and that number is only expected to grow. However, when you look at our educator workforce, Hispanic teachers only make up 9.3 percent of all teachers in our public schools while 79 percent are white. This is concerning because we know the pandemic has disproportionately impacted communities of color, so when you read headlines about the Great Resignation impacting teachers, one must wonder: How many more teachers of color will we lose?

We should all be concerned about the lack of diversity in our teaching workforce because the research is clear: Black, Latino, and Asian American Pacific Islander students perform better when they have teachers who understand, share and validate their identities and culture. Exposure to teachers of color short- and medium-term outcomes among elementary school students of color, including less frequent disciplinary actions, lower dropout rates, and higher rates of high school graduation. Teacher diversity also leads to positive increases in reading and math scores. 

As someone who grew up in Venezuela, and moved into the U.S school system as a teenager with Spanish as my primary language, I understand the importance of having a teacher who looks, and sounds, like you do. Unfortunately, many Black and Latino students will attend schools where they never have a teacher who shares their experience since attend a school without a single same-race teacher.

In my case, my family first immigrated to Paramus, New Jersey and a year and half later to the Orlando, Florida area. I finished middle and high school in Florida and didn’t have a single Latino teacher. I did, however, have a white teacher suggest I should go back where I came from and another tell my parents I had the vocabulary of a flea market employee. Those vivid memories — the lack of cultural competence, empathy and compassion — are something that still fuels my dedication to helping underrepresented students see themselves in their leaders and educators. I didn’t need every teacher to have been an immigrant or even Latino themselves, but I would have definitely benefited from having a couple along the way to affirm my identity and journey as valid, worthy ones, deserving of equitable access.

For the educator workforce to mirror the rich diversity of our student population, the U.S would need to add of color to our nation’s schools by 2030. To do this, we need to reimagine how we identify, recruit and retain teachers in general.

Many talented and aspiring teachers will go through rigorous teacher preparation programs, but never fully enter the profession because of outdated state licensure exams which put teachers of color at a disadvantage. We must be looking at new on-ramps to the teaching profession, such as teacher residency programs and alternative certification programs and at different measures for determining who is ready to enter the classroom. 

Additionally, like most professions, preparation can come with a high price tag especially for aspiring teachers that come from low-income families. School districts, city and state elected officials along with civic leaders, such as local credit unions, and employers across the country should find creative ways to help make teaching a pathway to the middle class. This should include helping offset the costs of teacher preparation programs through stipends and debt forgiveness for new teachers along with early-career homeownership programs, career coaching and professional development plans that span 10 years. Had these things been available to me as a young educator, the odds that I would have stayed in the classroom would have been significantly improved.

Although I was becoming a more effective teacher, found great joy and meaning in the connections with children and families, I left the classroom altogether to pursue higher education because the prospects of entering the middle class in Silicon Valley were grim. I lived with five other people, had to find a way to contribute to my family back in Florida, and didn’t see a clear pathway through the classroom to entrench my family in the American dream. I left and found my way to education administration and while I love my work, I think I could have been a career teacher had the right conditions been available to me.

Every school district in America should also have a justice, diversity, equity and inclusion plan with concrete strategies on how they plan to diversify their educator workforce; and more specifically, how they intend to identify, hire and retain more teachers of color — with a specific focus on Latino teachers in communities with growing or predominant Latino student populations. These strong initiatives lead to a sense of belonging that can only be achieved when staffing imperatives are implemented consistently over time and it’s that sense of belonging that provides the psychological safety for diverse educators to see themselves thriving professionally in spaces not historically built for them. Districts should also set up advisory committees, made up of teachers of color, who can provide concrete feedback to school leaders on the challenges they face within their local schools.

Finally, school districts must do more to retain the few teachers of color that are already in the profession. Most Latino educators we work with tell us the same things: we are overlooked for promotion, we don’t get professional development opportunities, our work is not valued in the same way as that of others. It’s worth repeating: Teaching should be a path to the middle class. Giving teachers opportunities to grow, assume leadership roles, and get paid a fair wage are the foundational steps to signaling we’re committed to this ideal.

We have been working with legislators in Massachusetts, for example, to create a national model for other states to follow when it comes to totally overhauling the educator pipeline. Our looks at all the leakages along the pipeline that impact educators of color, and offers solutions around preparation, hiring, recruitment and retention. It’s definitely a starting point for others who care about the current crisis we find ourselves in. 

As we navigate the third year of the pandemic, we cannot stand to lose more educators of color. This is the time for every state and every school district to prioritize educator diversity, because the future of teaching — and the future of our students — depends on it.

Conducted by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Maryland, the analysis of over 14,000 districts nationwide shows that in 2000, the average child from a poor family went to an elementary school where almost half of the students were defined as middle class. By 2015, that figure had fallen to 36 percent.

As the nation’s population grows, the shift — especially in the West and the South —means they are less likely to experience of racially and socioeconomically mixed schools, the study notes, including higher test scores, smaller racial achievement gaps and higher college enrollment rates.

The findings, according to the researchers, also carry broad implications for academic recovery efforts in the wake of the pandemic. 

A previous analysis by ����Ӱ�� showed disproportionate increases in chronic absenteeism among English learners, three-fourths of whom are Spanish-speakers. And data shows that Latino families were among those by COVID-related job loss and financial hardship, creating a larger challenge for schools serving high concentrations of Latino students.

“Deeper forces have sustained achievement disparities in recent decades, especially this worsening isolation of the poor from middle-class students,” said Bruce Fuller, a Berkeley sociology professor and lead author of the paper. “COVID-era learning loss is but a surface symptom of deeper ills that beset public education.”

“slowed desegregation efforts” in districts with large Black student populations and shifted attention toward improving schools in Black and Latino communities, the authors said. 

Now among Latinos, combined with the movement of Latino families to the suburbs, have contributed to racial isolation, they wrote.

“‘White flight’ from the public school system translates into resource flight from racially isolated schools,” said Feliza Oritz-Licon, chief policy and advocacy officer at Latinos for Education, a nonprofit focusing on teacher recruitment and education policy. She added that in racially isolated schools it becomes easy to “dismiss” Latino students as underperforming.

But not all districts have seen a decline in their white student populations. The chances that Latino children will interact with white peers at school are higher in the Midwest and Northeast. In fact, the researchers found 800 school districts where the white student population had not declined over that 15-year time period, even as the Latino student population grew. 

‘Under one school roof’

The Berkeley study builds on research by Sean Reardon at Stanford University, drew connections between racial segregation and large achievement gaps due to concentrations of Black and Latino students in high-poverty schools.

Pedro Noguera, dean of education at the University of Southern California, said rising segregation not only affects who students sit next to in class, but also broader support for public schools. 

“All of this is troubling. We have to get better at offering the kinds of programs that will attract affluent parents,” he said, noting that International Baccalaureate programs, Advanced Placement courses and other offerings “send the signal of a high standard. That’s what Latino parents want as well.”

Fuller and his co-authors wrote that without more inter-district choice programs, which would allow entree to higher-performing schools in wealthier neighborhoods, Latino students will continue to have fewer opportunities to attend integrated schools. 

A report released last year by Bellwether Education Partners explored additional obstacles to integration created by a lack of affordable housing in districts with higher performing schools; even if low-income families want to move into such school districts, housing options are scarce.

“Civic leaders and educators must expand ways of pulling the nation’s diverse children under one school roof,” Fuller said.

In 2020, the Century Foundation, a left leaning think tank, identified initiatives underway in school districts and charter school networks to increase integration. Some of the programs were voluntary, while others resulted from desegregation orders.

‘The country’s prosperity’

But Noguera said some charter schools predominantly serve Black students or Latino students, . 

By 2060, Latinos are projected to make up over one fourth of the U.S. population, according to Census Bureau , and Latino children currently account for of public school enrollment. 

Increasing the numbers of Latino educators is one way for districts to increase achievement, researchers at the Brookings Institution wrote in last year that focused on the Clark County School District in Nevada. They cited studies showing that Latino students are more likely to be placed in gifted programs and take Advanced Placement courses when their schools have more teachers that look like them.

Recruiting more Latino educators and giving Latinos a greater role in education policy is also a priority for philanthropist McKenzie Scott, who last week donated to Latinos for Education to support the organization’s work.

Latino educators are often assigned to high-need, racially isolated schools because they reflect the cultural backgrounds of students. But turnover is high, with many leaving the profession within four years, noted Oritz-Licon of Latinos for Education.

The organization’s October featured concerns from Latino educators, such as the cost of earning a degree and requests from administrators to provide translation services without additional compensation. 

Oritz-Licon called on schools serving Latino students to use relief funds for afterschool programs, academic support and parent engagement efforts since many high-needs schools might lack those services. 

“Latino students are American students,” she said. “Their educational outcomes should matter because as a growing population, their prosperity is the country’s prosperity.”

“We need a seat at the table to get into the room where decisions are being made,” Amanda Fernandez, president and CEO of Latinos for Education, said at the organization’s first national summit, held Wednesday and Thursday. 

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Including Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Michael Hinojosa and Rhode Island Commissioner of Education Angelica Infante-Green, the event was a chance to feature leaders “who showed up for Latinos during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Feliza Ortiz-Licon, the group’s chief policy and advocacy officer. “We want people to see that we are not alone in our fight for educational equity.”

The virtual conversations, including regional events in Massachusetts and Texas, focused on the barriers that families face in accessing quality education opportunities for their children as well as the contributions Latino educators make in their school communities. 

“Teachers want to work in a place where their voice is valued,” said Infante-Green, noting her state’s efforts to pay signing bonuses to bilingual teachers and to place them in schools together so they don’t feel isolated. 

The State of Latino Education event comes after a period in which Latinos “didn’t have a voice or representation at the federal level,” Fernandez said, referring to the Trump administration. In addition, the pandemic has disproportionately impacted the Latino community and pulled back “this rug where we used to sweep all the inequities,” Infante-Green added. Along with the national and state-level summits, the organization released outlining multiple obstacles facing Latino students from early childhood through the post-secondary years. The findings, based on results from focus groups, point to poor access to quality early learning for young children, limited college advising and support services for high school students and what Ortiz-Licon called the “chronic underrepresentation of Latino educators.”

More than a quarter of the nation’s public school students are Latino, but Latino teachers make up less than 10 percent of the educator workforce, according to data cited in the report. The same is true for administrators. Roughly half of the focus group participants were Latino teachers, who said they face racism and are often placed in high-needs schools without adequate support. Many are also called upon to provide translation services.

“They are not compensated, not even acknowledged for all the roles they play,” Ortiz-Licon said.

Hinojosa spoke of his district’s efforts to recruit excellent teachers and principals and pay them well — an initiative the community through tax increases. In a district where 48 percent of students are English learners, Latino students are not really a “subgroup,” he said.

“If we don’t do well with this population we’re not doing well at all,” he said, highlighting initiatives such as business-industry partnerships allowing students to earn associate degrees along with their high school diplomas. “We just need the community to believe in us.”

Others emphasized the value of programs that make students feel connected to school, such as clubs and cultural events, as well as nonacademic services to address hunger, housing and mental health. The Houston Independent School District is using federal relief funds to staff schools with resource specialists.

“It’s not just about the student; it’s about being able to support our families as well,” said Superintendent Millard House.

Latino families with young children, the organization’s report said, often don’t understand the difference between child care and early education or the benefits for children. While pre-K and kindergarten overall during the pandemic, the authors note that it has declined particularly among Black and Latino children and by more than half among those from low-income families. 

But Miriam Calderon, who leads early childhood work at the U.S. Department of Education, pointed to President Joe Biden’s child care and universal pre-K proposals, which include pay increases for teachers, as a move toward treating education for young children as a “public good.”

“The failure to see early-childhood education as essential is shifting,” she said. “That makes me hopeful.”