America’s schools desperately need African-American teachers more than ever. A new report from the U.S. Department of Education offers detailed data on public school teachers in the United States and shows that African Americans were only 6.6 percent of the elementary school teachers, 7.5 percent of the middle school teachers, and 6.3 percent of the high school teachers.
According to the report, in the 2015–16 school year, there were an estimated 3,827,100 teachers in public elementary and secondary schools in the United States. About 3,608,600 taught in traditional public schools and about 218,500 taught in charter schools. About 80 percent of all public school teachers were non-Hispanic White, 9 percent were Hispanic, 6.7 percent were non-Hispanic Black.
“Characteristics of Public Elementary and Secondary School Teachers in the United States: Results From the 2015-16 National Teacher and Principal Survey” found that among public school teachers, 77 percent were female and 23 percent were male. In addition, relatively more women were teachers in primary schools (89 percent) than in middle schools (73 percent), combined schools (70 percent), and high schools (59 percent).
African Americans made up 13 percent of the teachers at schools where 75 percent or more of the student body qualified for free or reduced price lunch, according to the 50-page report. At schools where less than 35 percent of the students qualified for free or reduced price lunch, blacks made up 2.8 percent of all teachers.
