School and District Leaders’ Role in Diversifying the Teacher Workforce

Abstract

Diversifying the teaching profession has garnered attention from researchers, policy makers, and educational stakeholders. However, missing within this conversation is the role of school and district leaders in diversifying the teaching profession. We argue that without considering school and district leaders, diversity initiatives will not have a long-term systemic impact. Thus, this article fills in a gap in the literature on this topic. First, we provide a brief overview of the current racial and ethnic demographics of the teaching workforce and student population and discuss the barriers to recruiting and retaining a diverse teacher workforce. Second, we highlight the factors that have been found to influence the recruitment and retention of racial diversity of teachers at the pre-service and in-service levels. Lastly, we provide recommendations for school-based and district leaders on how they should plan for diversifying their teacher workforce.