Source: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The DESE reports student and staffing data in seven racial-ethnic categories: African American, Asian, Hispanic, Native American, White, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander and Multi-race/Non-Hispanic.
The gap between the diversity of the student enrollment and the teacher staff has increased over the past ten years. Since 2007-08, the percentage of students of color enrolled in Massachusetts public schools has increased steadily from 29% to 40%. Teacher staffing data show that the percentage of teachers of color has not increased substantially – 8% to 10% over the same period. The largest increase is for Hispanic teachers – increasing from 3.1% to 4.1% over 10 years.
Note: The percent of Native American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander teachers in Massachusetts is less than 1% and is not included on this graph.