THE CAMPAIGN
The One Million Teachers of Color campaign has a goal of adding one million teachers of color and thirty-thousand leaders of color to the education workforce over the next decade. Our campaign is made up of leaders from the education sector and beyond, united in the belief that when education systems are designed to honor the humanity of teachers and school leaders of color, students and our entire society benefit. As a growing body of research indicates, when education systems recruit and retain teachers and leaders of color, all students, particularly students of color, benefit. Together we seek to amplify the unique strengths, skills and lived experience that teachers and leaders of color bring in support of all students. We demand that we hold our education and public systems accountable to support, recruit, retain, and develop teachers and leaders of color. We invite you to join us.
OUR STEERING COMMITTEE
The Hunt Institute and TNTP launched the campaign in February 2021, together with the Center for Black Educator Development, EdTrust, Latinos for Education, Men of Color in Educational Leadership, New Leaders, and Teach Plus.
Individually, each organization has long worked to promote educator diversity. However, we saw an opportunity to multiply our impact together.
OUR WHY
Think back to your time as a K-12 student. Did you have teachers who shared your race, ethnicity, identity, and lived experiences? For millions of students of color across the country today, the answer is “no.” Despite 52 percent of students in the United States identifying as people of color, nearly 80 percent of teachers are white, and 78 percent of principals are white. And 40 percent of public schools in the United States do not have a single teacher of color.
To close this gap and build an educator workforce as diverse as the students it serves, we need to add one million new teachers of color and thirty-thousand leaders of color to our nation’s schools.
Leaders of color provide rigorous academic opportunities for students of color, while fostering school environments that are more supportive and sustainable for both teachers and students of color. Schools with Black principals show a 3.8 percent increase in Black representation in the school’s gifted program. Yet, leaders of color are also grossly underrepresented in our educator workforce.
It is a challenge worth prioritizing. Research shows that while all students benefit from diverse teachers, students of color who have teachers of the same race/ethnicity, identity, and lived experience are less likely to be suspended and more likely to graduate high school, enroll in postsecondary education, and earn a postsecondary degree.
At a moment when students face unprecedented needs and school systems face the biggest staffing challenges in recent memory, it has never been more important to ensure that our nation’s teacher and school leader workforce is talented and diverse enough to help every student thrive.
1,000,000 TEACHERS OF COLOR & 30,000 LEADERS OF COLOR
How will we do it?
We are a coalition of education organizations united in our commitment to add one million teachers of color and thirty-thousand leaders of color to the education workforce over the next decade. Together, alongside partners on the ground, we will advocate for the policies and practices that will make it possible, and support state and district leaders in making our goal a reality. We will be supporting policies and practices that redefine the role of teachers, support progressive pathways to the profession, and advance inclusive environments designed for teachers and leaders of color to bring their full, authentic selves to the classroom. Through this work we will inspire students and build a culture of belonging. As a result, we will strengthen the entire community, the greater educator workforce, and generations of future leaders.