Rudy Ruiz and Faith Connolly propose a new accountability measure that captures the percentage of students in a school that have a teacher of a similar ethno-racial background. The measure would hold school districts accountable for the percentage of students who have a teacher who looks like them. Adding this measure would bring attention to…

Teacher leadership recently has gained prominence as an important method for school improvement and reform, yet the ranks of teacher leaders do not match the racial and ethnic diversity of the students they serve. Jori S. Beck, KaaVonia Hinton, and Brandon M. Butler conducted a study of teacher leadership that garnered almost 800 survey responses…

Despite progress in recent years, members of the LGBTQ+ community remain underrepresented and underserved in the school system. Ferial Pearson and Steven Gill draw on research literature and their own experiences as out queer educators to recommend a set of actions educators can take to reduce harm to members of these communities in school. They…

Understanding the early teacher pipeline, how many and what types of individuals are pursuing a teaching credential, is critically important. Unfortunately, as Dan Goldhaber and Kris Holden explain, the two national data collections that can be used to explore these areas provide incomplete and sometimes contrasting pictures about the number of…

Amaya Garcia of New America talks with Kappan about grow-your-own programs, in which school districts partner with teacher preparation programs to recruit and prepare community members, often current students or school staff, to teach in local schools. A recent 50-state scan shows that there is a great deal of variety in how these programs are…

Despite the consistent policy focus on diversifying the teacher workforce, this workforce still fails to reflect the diversity of the student body in U.S. public schools. Dan Goldhaber, Roddy Theobald, and Christopher Tien examine the theoretical arguments and empirical evidence supporting the importance of teacher workforce diversity. They…

For decades, the supply of qualified special educators has been critically low. In 1983, the shortage of special educators was highlighted in "A Nation at Risk," and the situation remains much the same 25 years later. The most recently available data indicate that just 0.86 teachers were prepared for each available position in special…

An African-American education professor describes the positive influences that a favorite elementary-school music teacher, also African-American, had on her development. Miss McGruder played the piano enthusiastically and sang classical, old standards, soul, and rock-and-roll music, urging students to sing along. (MLH)

An English teacher who taught two years at a racially and economically diverse high school reflects on unintentional forms of racism hiding behind her hard-working colleagues' standard practices. Examples include underrepresentation of black authors in the curriculum, lack of faculty diversity, and a persistently "white" school ethos.…

Explores the progress of Fenway Middle College High School, in its third year as a Boston pilot school (an in-district charter-school alternative). Significant areas of autonomy remain untested. Fenway learned the value of an experienced, caring, diverse faculty; networking and reorganization opportunities; and idealism to counter "bigger is…

The secondary school principal, as "artist in residence," establishes a climate for excellence, promotes a vision of continuous improvement, and must confront numerous challenges, including students' earlier puberty and growing diversity. The principalship has acquired more responsibilities without needed incentives to attract…