ABSTRACT
This chapter uses the best national data available in an attempt to empirically ground the debate on recruitment, employment and retention of minority teachers. It addresses several questions: the number of minority teachers; the employment of minority teachers; minority teacher turnover; what can be done to increase the number of minority teachers? The chapter analyzes the data from the nationally representative Schools and Staffing Survey and its longitudinal supplement, the Teacher Follow-Up Survey, both administered by the National Center for Education Statistics in the US Department of Education. The definitions of minority teachers and nonminority teachers are based on Census Bureau classifications of race/ethnicity. Nonminority refers to those identified as White, non-Hispanic. Minority includes those identified as Black/African-American, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander or Asian, and American Indian/Native American/Alaska Native, and those of multiple races. Hispanic refers to ethnicity and includes those of all races; it is important to recognize that more than half of those identifying as Hispanic are White.
