The ethnic composition of the United States is diversifying (NCES, 2014), which is altering the types of ethnicities seen in America’s school system. Beginning in the late 1980s and continuing into the two decades following, educators of ethnic minorities (e.g., Black, Hispanic, Asian) began entering the field of education at a more rapid pace (Ingersoll & May, 2016). The number of educators considered ethnic minorities increased from 325,000 to 666,000 between 1987 and 2012 (Ingersoll & May, 2016); however, this number did not create a proportionality between the ethnicity of students and teachers. This has been linked to the achievement gap between ethnic minorities and Caucasian students in public high schools in America, according to researchers Gershenson, Holt, and Papageorge (2016). The hypothesis that a school division that employs a proportionate number of licensed ethnic minority teachers directly reflecting the population of ethnic minority students will aid in closing the achievement gap can only be considered by first determining whether differences exists between licensed ethnic minority teachers and ethnic minority students. This study investigated the ethnicities of teachers and those of students in high schools in each school division located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The ethnicities of the teachers in each high school were collected by contacting the Human Resources department in each school division or by telephoning each high school. The ethnicity of students in Grades 9– 12 was collected using the Virginia Department of Education’s website. There were five key findings gleaned from this study. The first finding was that school divisions with the highest levels of representation between the ethnicities of students and teachers were either the largest of the reporting 24 school divisions, or in the smallest of the 24 reporting school divisions. The second finding shows that 45% or reporting school divisions had minority populations that were too small to report. Finding three shows the majority of high school students from participating school divisions identify as White, followed by Black and Hispanic. The fourth finding is that the majority of high school teachers from participating school division identify as White followed by Black. Finally finding five shows that teachers and students that identify as Native Hawaiian, American Indian, Asian, or as having two or more ethnicities were either underrepresented or not reported. / Ed. D. / The United States is becoming increasing diverse, which also changes the ethnic makeup of public schools. With this increase, came an interest into how the ethnicities of teachers in schools reflects that of the student populations. While there has been an increase in the number of educators considered ethnic minorities this number did not create a proportionality between the ethnicity of students and teachers. This gap in ethnic representation between students and teachers has been linked to the achievement gap between ethnic minorities and Caucasian students. It is believed that a school division that has a teaching staff whose ethnicity is reflective of the student population will aid in closing the achievement gap. This theory can only be considered by discovering whether differences between licensed ethnic minority teachers and ethnic minority students actually exist. This study investigated the ethnicities of teachers and those of students in high schools in each school division located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The ethnicities of the teachers in each comprehensive high school was collected by using a survey sent to the 130 school divisions in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The ethnicity data for students in grades 9-12 was gathered from the Virginia Department of Education website. This study found that the largest and smallest school divisions had the highest levels of representation between the ethnicities of students and teachers. Almost half of reporting school divisions had minority population that were too small to report. The majority of teachers and students in the reporting school divisions are White, followed by Black. In addition teachers and students identifying as Native Hawaiian, American Indian, Asian or as having two or more ethnicities were underrepresented or not reported.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/86129 |
| Date | 20 November 2018 |
| Creators | Rhue, Chandra Nichelle |
| Contributors | Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Cash, Carol S., Price, Ted S., Jones, Chiquita L., Earthman, Glen I. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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