Teacher demographics in Kansas City, Part I: Understanding the representation gap

What do public school teacher demographics look like within KCPS boundaries, and how do they compare to our K-12 student population?

Across the US – and in Kansas City – increasing attention is being paid to the topic of teacher diversity. That’s because an ever-growing body of research shows that students benefit – socially, emotionally, and academically – from having teachers of their same race and gender.

In a recent study conducted in Tennessee, Black students randomly assigned to a Black teacher in grades K-3 were 7% more likely to graduate from high school and 13% more likely to enroll in college than their peers who weren’t assigned to Black teachers.

In North Carolina, the same study found that for every 10 percentage point increase in Black teachers in a school, the Black male drop-out rate decreased by almost 5% and the intent to go to college increased by 2%. (You can find a summary of this study, and its implications, here).

“Role model effects” are real

The working paper summarized above, “The Long Run Impacts of Same-Race Teachers”, validates an idea that is really just common sense: school teachers are among the very first role models and authority figures in students’ lives. When students have teachers who look like them, it sends a signal early on about their future potential, and what they can be when they grow up.

It also sends a signal about who’s allowed to stand at the front of the classroom and be in charge.   When you consider that, today in the United States, 50% of all public school students are students of color – but that 80% of teachers are White – you realize that most White students receive role model signals throughout their K-12 education. And that many Asian, Black, Hispanic, Indian and other students of color, in contrast, don’t.

This representation gap is just one part of the opportunity gap that students of color face from their earliest years in school. How big is this gap in Kansas City?

Teacher diversity in Kansas City: 2017-18

What do public school teacher demographics look like within KCPS boundaries today, and how do they compare to our K-12 student population?

This post focuses on the 2017-18 school year, the most recent year for which Set the Schools Free has available data.

Of K-12 educators within KCPS boundaries in 2017-18:

• 2% identified as Asian
• 31% identified as Black
• 5% identified as Hispanic
• 61% identified as White
• 1% identified as Other

Altogether, 39% of educators identified as Asian, Black, Hispanic or Other; 61% identified as White.

Comparing teacher to student representation

Here’s a comparison between teacher and student demographics for 2017-18, for all public schools within KCPS boundaries.

The difference between the percentage of teachers and same-race students is the representation gap. Starting from the left on the bar chart, you can see that representation of Asian teachers and students across all public schools is about the same.

But there’s a noticeable gap between the percentage of Black and Hispanic students in our schools and the percentage of Black and Hispanic teachers. Black students made up 57% of K-12 students within KCPS boundaries; 31% of all teachers were Black. Hispanic students accounted for 27% of all students – but only 5% of teachers.

White students, in contrast, benefited from a representation surplus. White students made up only 10% of all public school students within KCPS boundaries, but the vast majority of teachers – 61% – were White.

Breaking out the data: KCPS and Charter

Does teacher representation look different when broken out between our different public school sectors?

While both KCPS and Kansas City’s charter sector had a similar percentage of both Black and White students in 2017-18, teacher representation differed.

Overall, Black educators within KCPS made up a higher percentage of teaching staff (37%) than in Kansas City’s charter sector (25%). In the charter sector there’s a 33-point gap between black teacher and student representation, compared to an 18-point gap in KCPS.

Charter schools, in aggregate, had a higher percentage of White teachers (69%) than did KCPS (53%).

In both KCPS and the charter sector, there was a 22-point gap between the percentage of Hispanic teachers and the percentage of Hispanic students. Hispanic students are the fastest-growing student population within our district boundaries.

Summing it up

The purpose of this post is to foster a big picture understanding of why educator diversity matters and what teacher demographics look like within KCPS boundaries – including the extent of Kansas City’s representation gap. To facilitate understanding the data presented are in aggregate, at the district-wide and sector level. But it’s important to note that teacher demographics, like student demographics, vary significantly from school to school.

There are several initiatives underway in Kansas City to attract, develop and support teachers and leaders of color for our public schools. They include and/or are led by: Kansas City Plus+, The Kansas City Teacher Residency, The LatinX Education Collaborative, The Literacy Lab, Teach for America KC, the UMKC Institute for Urban Education, and AmplifyKC. Brothers Liberating our Communities (The BLOC) and Elements of Education KC are two others. If you’re aware of other organizations that should be included on this list, please email me or leave a comment below.

There’s been some thoughtful recent coverage about school and educator diversity in Kansas City. If you’re interested in reading more, check out Mara Williams’ KC Star article: There are 100,000 teachers in Missouri. How come only 1% are Black Men? and Elle Moxley’s KCUR story on board diversity: Students in Kansas City’s Classroom are More Diverse, But School Boards Remain Mostly White.

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Thanks to the Set the Schools Free reader who suggested the idea of looking into teacher demographic data – and sorry it took so long! Teacher demographics in Kansas City Part II, coming soon, will focus on teacher demographic trends over time as well as school-level demographics and representation.