“Please Hire More Teachers of Color”: Challenging the “Good Enough” in Teacher Diversity Efforts

Policies and programs intended to increase the racial diversity of the US teaching population have failed to make meaningful inroads in an overwhelmingly white profession despite extensive research demonstrating the need for more teachers of color. This article explores teacher diversity efforts in one non-urban district through a qualitative case study grounded in Critical Race Theory (CRT). In particular, CRT tenets of interest convergence and the ubiquitous presence of racism in society clarify ways that incremental approaches actually served to reinforce the status quo. Implications call for a radical rethinking of teacher diversity efforts by insisting on a holistic approach to teacher diversity that challenges norms and commonsense practices.