An Effective Workforce Is a Diverse Workforce: Integrating Educator Shortages and Workforce Diversity Efforts

The educator workforce faces two critical challenges: teacher shortages and a lack of educator diversity. Although not new but certainly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, these related challenges are frequently covered in the news, prioritized in strategic plans at the district and state levels, and debated by researchers. Workforce data illustrate that educator shortages and the lack of educator diversity disproportionately affect some schools, and in turn, some students. Targeted efforts are needed to ameliorate educator shortages at specific schools and in specific academic subjects. Shortages and diversity are sometimes addressed separately or as part of many related themes. However, an integrated approach—where both are addressed in tandem—offers the strongest payoff. This webinar and our upcoming paper focus on three critical realities in education: – Teacher shortages are not equitable; they disproportionately affect underserved students. – Students of non-white racial/ethnic backgrounds generally do not have access to same-race teachers. – These two realities reflect and arise from systemic racism in the field of education and give good reason to address teacher shortages and a lack of educator diversity at the same time. After addressing these realities, we highlight promising strategies that states, districts, education preparation programs, and other education organizations are implementing to address the shortages and lack of diversity. These strategies can serve as models for other education entities that are seeking guidance about an integrated approach.