The teacher workforce in Louisiana is significantly less diverse than its population of college-educated adults. That’s according to a report by the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ). The executive director for the New Orleans region of Teach for America is Ge’ron Tatum. He points to limited pathways and elimination of teacher prep programs as some factors for the lack of diversity.
Tatum says that representation matters because research shows teachers of color significantly benefit student outcomes. As Sean Richardson with the Louisiana Radio Network reports, Tatum explains, “Our kids need excellent teachers. And there’s so much research that points to kids having someone in, in their classroom standing in front of them teaching that looks like them. That leads to great results.”
Tatum notes that Louisiana teachers earn $5,000 less than the Southern regional average and $15,000 less than the national average. Tatum says that pay disparity is deterring people of color from entering or staying in the profession.
In terms of signs of progress, according to the NCTQ, the percentage of non-white teachers increased from about 18% in 2014 to 21% in 2022. During the same time period in Louisiana, the increase was roughly 23% to 25%.
Yet the NCTQ report concluded, “The data is particularly worrisome for a state where nearly 60% of public school students are non-White. But just one in four of Louisiana’s nearly 35,000 public school teachers identify as non-White.” Tatum suggests strategies to improve diversity include recruiting from historically black colleges and offering financial support to prospective teachers.
Tatum adds, “There’s the AmeriCorps education award that they also receive, and then directly related to teacher diversity we work alongside the Black Educators Promise grant and that adds additional funds for our corps members entering the profession.
