Teacher Diversity Lacking in Delaware Schools
Teachers and administrators in Delaware public schools don’t reflect the diversity of their student body, according to a recent study from the State Human Relations Commission. The commission reviewed 19 school districts and 11 charter schools as a follow-up to a study that found similar disparity five years earlier, reports the Wilmington News Journal.
The commission began studying Delaware’s educator diversity in response to a complaint filed by the Coalition for Equal Justice in Public Education in 1999, finding minorities were significantly under-represented in most state schools. Commissioners pledged to revisit the issue after five years to see what employment changes had been made. The report analyzed 2005 data, which shows little progress.
New Castle County Vo-Tech was the only district with the percentage of minority teachers about equal to the percentage of minority teachers available in the work force and with a higher percentage of minority administrators than what is available in the work force.
Capital and Christina also were above parity for minority administrators. Their minority teachers were under-represented by about 1 percent. Seven charter schools had a higher percentage of minority teachers employed than available in the labor market, but only two exceeded the labor market for minority administrators – Kuumba Academy and Newark Charter School. The rest had no minority administrators.
The commission report recommends similar practices for other Delaware schools, including: implementing a strategy to increase minority teachers and administrators; asking applicants to voluntarily include race information on applications; and reporting to the commission applicant data by position, race and gender so officials can tell whether districts are attracting and hiring diverse candidates.
— Teachers of Color
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