The One Million Teachers of Color Campaign Identifies How Education Leaders Can Diversify the Educator Workforce

NEW YORK – Today, the One Million Teachers of Color (1MToC) Campaign released a new report that provides a research-backed, holistic approach that education officials can adopt to increase the representation of educators of color in their local school systems.

“To thrive in an increasingly multicultural world and workforce, young people need access to learning environments led by effective and diverse educators. This is not a nice-to-have; it is essential to delivering strong learning experiences for all students,” says Leticia de la Vara, Chief Policy, Engagements & External Affairs Officer at TNTP, a national education nonprofit and Steering Committee member of the 1MToC Campaign. “Yet, while 55 percent of U.S. students are children of color, only 22 percent of teachers and 23 percent of principals identify as people of color. The Campaign’s hope with this report is that we can shed more light on not only the challenges, but more importantly the bright spots and actions local leaders can take to build a strong school leader and teacher workforce.”

Creating Conditions for Success: How Districts Can Build and Sustain a Stronger and More Diverse Educator Workforce highlights learnings from 30 district and school leaders across 15 states. Collectively, they identified five key steps education officials can take to increase the strength and diversity of their local educator workforce:

1. Leverage data to emphasize the importance of diverse educators in improving student outcomes and invite stakeholders to help make their communities a thriving place for educators of color.

2. Establish clear goals and timelines, along with shared accountability and support, for increasing teacher and school leader diversity.

3. Regularly assess how welcoming, inclusive, and culturally affirming your classrooms and schools are to educators, students, and families of color—and take action based on that data.

4. Invest in your educator talent pipeline early and holistically, and forge partnerships with preparation providers and community organizations that can help advance teacher and school leader diversity goals.

5. Prioritize personal and professional development and support to sustain and retain educators of color currently serving your students and communities.

For more information, visit 1mtoc.org.

The 1MToC Campaign is a national call to action with the bold goal of rallying the nation to add one million teachers of color and thirty-thousand leaders of color to the education workforce by 2030. The campaign is led by a Steering Committee, which includes leading experts with the Center for Black Educator Development, The Education Trust, The Hunt Institute, Latinos for Education, Men of Color in Educational Leadership, New Leaders, Teach Plus, and TNTP.