Research on Teachers of Color and Indigenous Teachers: Developing and fortifying policies that diversify the educator workforce

This special issue expands upon the Handbook of Research on Teachers of Color and Indigenous Teachers (Gist & Bristol, 2022a) and the practitioner-focused Phi Delta Kappan special issue, “Learning from the Voices of Black, Indigenous and People of Color Educators: Charting New Directions for Research, Policy, and Practice” (Gist & Bristol, 2021). The co-created articles in this special issue highlight the combined expertise of policy makers and education researchers. While the Handbook featured empirical research, and the Phi Delta Kappan special issue featured research briefs and teacher testimonies, the policy-driven articles in this special issue explore how research can be applied at district, state and national levels. A primary goal of this special issue is to provide evidence-based policy recommendations to support policymakers with strategies to address ethnoracial diversity related to one or more of the Handbook’s 11 research domains (i.e., recruitment, program design, mentorship, professional development, retention, pedagogical and leadership practices, induction and human resource development, intersectionalities, educational impact, minority serving institutions, and policy).