Changing 'stubborn' statistics: Allen County schools, state leaders work to diversify teaching workforce

About 20% of public school teachers nationwide are people of color compared with slightly more than 50% of students, according to a Rand Corp. report released in September. More minority teachers work in schools where minority students make up a majority, the research organization found, but even there, 40% to 80% of teachers are white.

The educator workforce is less diverse in Indiana. Of full-time teachers in public and private schools, 92% were white in 2021, according to the Indiana Department of Education. Statewide enrollment data for that year show 66% of all students were white.

“The statistics are really stubborn,” said Isabel Nuñez, School of Education dean at Purdue University Fort Wayne.

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