On the Growing Shortage of Black and Hispanic Teachers

I am the citizen of state in which last year's firstgrade class was 50 percent Hispanic and in which roughly 31 percent of students enrolled in public schools in 1986-87-the latest year for which statewide figures are available-were Hispanic and 15 percent were Black. In that same year, the percentage of Hispanic teachers in the state's public schools was approximately 13 percent, while that for Black teachers was 9.5 percent. I live in city in which Hispanic students represented 33 percent and Black students 20 percent of public-school enrollment in 1988-89. But in that school year only 17 percent of the teachers were Hispanic and only 12 percent were Black. I teach on state university campus which enrolls nearly 50,000 students; of that number, about 10 percent are Hispanic and 3.6 percent Black. In the fall of 1987, of those enrolled in programs of secondary education within the state's colleges and universities, only 8 percent were Hispanic and 5 percent were Black. The ratios-not unique to Texas, nor to Austin, nor to the University of Texas at Austin-trouble me deeply. For as the number of Black and Hispanic students enrolled in American public education continues to rise, the percentage of available Black and Hispanic teachers continues to decline. Signs of growing shortage-what many view as mounting crisis-are manifold. (For examples of these signs, refer to the data in shadowed boxes scattered throughout this article.) Furthermore, the full effects of mandated statewide testing of prospective teachers are difficult to assess, since tests and reporting procedures differ from state to state. Nevertheless, it is clear that a disproportionately high number of Black, Hispanic, and Asian candidates are being screened from the teaching profession (American Council on Education 1987, 13). Critics of the paper-and-pencil tests used in most state programs maintain that because these instruments fail to measure such abilities as those needed to