Milwaukee Public School teachers are about 70% white and 24% black or Latino, says Dan Chanen, chief human resources officer. While acknowledging Milwaukee needs to do better to diversify its teacher corp, the district has found some success by focusing on its own staff, Chanen said.
“About half of the teachers of color we recruit are actually current employees, or former employees who come back to us after completing a teaching program,” he said. Looking to the future, the school district is trying to encourage high school students to become education majors in college, Chanen said.
“We really need to do a better job of encouraging our students to seek out entry into teacher education programs,” he said. A recent report (PDF) by the Brown Center on Education Policy notes that teachers of color represent 18% of public school educators in the U.S. Meanwhile, students of color make up about half of all students in public schools.