A Call for Teacher Diversity in Elementary and Secondary Education

WHEREAS, in the 1954 landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, the NAACP played a pivotal role in persuading the U.S. Supreme Court to affirm the goal of equality of educational opportunity for all children. Today, over 60 years after the Brown decision, the Association recognizes that severe racial inequities, including vast disparities in the hiring of teachers of color, still persist in many of our nation's schools; and

WHEREAS, the NAACP reaffirms previous resolutions designed to ensure teacher diversity, teacher quality and resource equity; and

WHEREAS, of the 3.2 million public school teachers educating the nation's children, as of 2014 only 6 percent are Hispanic and 7 percent are African American; and

WHEREAS, of more than 13,500 public school superintendents in the United States, as of 2014 only 363 are African American and estimated 250 are Latino; and

WHEREAS, by the year 2020 the United States Census predicts that the shared African American and Hispanic student population is projected to increase from the 2014 level of 38 percent to 52 percent; and

WHEREAS, recruiting male teachers has been a challenge in public schools, with the proportion of male teachers decreasing from 31 percent in 1986 to 16 percent in 2014.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that all NAACP units work with their local teacher unions and teacher recruitment associates, specifically American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and National Education Association (NEA), as well as historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, and other minority-serving institutions to promote diversity in local teacher recruitment; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that NAACP units collect and publish summaries of research analyzing best practices as well as, impediments to teacher diversity; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that NAACP units work through the local, state and federal legislative processes to ensure that teacher diversity will be closely monitored and reformed for a more equitable educational system.