Glancing back and looking forward: The role of education policy in creating pathways to the workforce for Teachers of Color and Indigenous Teachers

The Handbook of Research on Teachers of Color and Indigenous Teachers charts the landscape of the educator diversity research base by focusing on 11 domains of inquiry. Policy, one of the domains of inquiry in the Handbook, is instrumental for advancing educator diversity. This paper is anchored in the lessons from the policy domain, and extends this scholarship by briefly synthesizing the historical origins of educator diversity policies, and examining present-day manifestations of these efforts in the sociopolitical context of state and federal level policy trends. The manuscript concludes with a set of policy recommendations.