Minority NYC Teachers Going Down

GRIM MINORITY REPORT CARD ON
CITY TEACHERS
By DAVID ANDREATTA Education Reporter
September 25, 2006 -- Nearly three out of four students in the city public-school system are black or Hispanic - but they are increasingly unlikely to have new teachers who look like them.
Despite recruitment efforts, blacks and Hispanics make up a significantly smaller percentage of new teachers than they did just five years ago.
Of the estimated 6,500 teachers hired by the city's Education Department for the current school year, only 14.1 percent were black and 11.7 percent were Hispanic - compared with 27.2 percent and 14.3 percent respectively five years ago, according to the agency.
Over the same period, the number of new white teachers has soared from 53.3 percent to 65.5 percent - the largest percentage increase since at least 1990.
Teacher-recruitment observers say the dip in minorities reflects a nationwide trend, as the groups turn away from teaching for better-paying jobs, and stricter certification standards have shrunk the hiring pool in parts of the country.
The result could be detrimental to school districts with high populations of minority students, according to a 2004 report by the National Collaborative on Diversity in the Teaching Force, which found students perform better when taught by teachers from their own ethnic groups.
"A lot of times, minority teachers are able to interact in a manner that causes minority youngsters to behave differently, to achieve differently," said Reg Weaver, president of the National Education Association.
There is no conclusive data on the ethnic breakdown of college students working toward education degrees and teacher licenses, but anecdotal evidence suggests education programs are seeing fewer blacks and Hispanics apply.
Christopher Brown, an executive with the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education, said the federal No Child Left Behind law has hampered recruitment of minorities because teaching licenses are now not as easily transferable from state to state.
"The majority of blacks in this nation attend traditionally black colleges, most of which are in the South," Brown said. "We're seeing an increasing number of teacher candidates remaining in the states where they earned their degrees, because that's where they get certified."
Elizabeth Arons, head of human resources for the Education Department, said the agency has intensified its recruiting at traditionally black colleges and the United Negro College Fund. She added that the city is also aggressively seeking teachers in Spain and Puerto Rico.
Despite the difficulty in drawing new black and Hispanic teachers here, the two ethnic groups account for a much higher percentage of teachers in the city than across the nation.
Of the 76,000 teachers in New York City, 20.5 percent are black, and 13.5 percent are Hispanic. Nationally, blacks represent roughly 8 percent of teachers; Hispanics account for about 6 percent.
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NEW YORK POST