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Achieving and Succeeding with Teacher Diversity June 25, 2020 | Volume 15 | Issue 20 Table of Contents
Bayliss Fiddiman
Outstanding student loan debt in the United States surpassed $1.6 trillion this year, and research indicates that people across various industries are struggling to pay it off. Student loans can be particularly burdensome for teachers, who experience a pay penalty because they are not paid the same compared to other similarly educated professionals. The troubling statistics on the state of racial and ethnic diversity in the nation's teaching profession are well researched. However, it is less commonly understood that student loan debt could be a barrier to increasing racial diversity in the profession.
All students benefit from a racially diverse teaching workforce that reflects the rich diversity of the U.S. population. Research shows that access to a same-race teacher is associated with positive achievement outcomes in reading and math for nonwhite students (Egalite, Kisidab, and Winters, 2015). However, research also shows that Black and Latinx teachers are more likely to not only borrow federal student loans for their undergraduate and graduate education, but also may have difficulty paying these loans off.
My research with colleagues at the Center for American Progress (CAP) indicates that student loan debt may be a barrier to recruiting and retaining racially diverse educators in the teaching profession. Our analysis found that Black and Latinx teachers are more likely to take out federal student loans for their graduate and undergraduate education and borrow more federal student loan money than their white peers. The chart below shows that 88 percent of Black teachers and 76 percent of Latinx teachers used federal student loans to pay for college, compared with 73 percent of white teachers.
Figure 1. Black or African Americans who taught or were trained to teach were more likely to borrow federal student loans for their undergraduate education
Percent of cohort who borrowed federal student loans for undergraduate school, by race and ethnicity
Source: National Center for Education Statistics, "Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study," last accessed June 2019.
Note: "!" indicates data that should be interpreted with caution: The estimate is unstable because the standard error represents more than 30 percent of the estimate. "!!" indicates data that should be interpreted with caution: The estimate is unstable because the standard error represents more than 50 percent of the estimate. The names of the variables used in this table are: B1FDOWE1, B1TEACHR, B1PIPLN, AND RACE2. The weight variable used in this table is WTE000. Figures are rounded to the nearest whole number. Precise numbers are available through the author upon request.
Research indicates that undergraduate students were less likely to choose public interest jobs with lower pay, particularly in education, when they had student loan debt. With higher student loan debt, students are more likely to pursue careers with higher pay. This means that to increase the racial diversity of the U.S. teaching workforce, interventions focused on reducing debt, particularly for students of color, may be effective.
There are a number of strategies that states and school districts can implement to reduce student loan debt for racially diverse teachers.
Student loan debt is a concern for many working professionals but can be particularly burdensome for teachers entering a profession that pays less than other careers requiring similar education. Due to the racial wealth gap, lower pay can deter Black and Latinx graduates who are more likely to have student loan debt. Programs that ease student loan debt could remove a key barrier to increasing racial diversity in the teaching profession.
Egalite, A. J., Kisidab, B., & Winters, M. A. (2015, April). Representation in the classroom: The effect of own-race teachers on student achievement. Economics of Education Review, 45¸44–52.
Bayliss Fiddiman (@civicengageJD) is a senior policy analyst for K–12 education at the Center for American Progress. Her experience includes advocating for policies that increase educational opportunity and access to a high-quality education for all students.
More on This Topic: Teacher Diversity Starts with Belonging
ASCD Express, Vol. 15, No. 20. Copyright 2020 by ASCD. All rights reserved. Visit www.ascd.org/ascdexpress.
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