Benefits to students of color when teachers of color are represented in the workforce:

Ensuring that all students see themselves represented in the teaching profession is a critical and necessary step in achieving educational equity.  Diverse educators have the ability to connect to all students, but research shows this connection is specifically advantageous to students of color. Students’ of color culture and identity is often eliminated from the educational experience in America.  Research and data support positive educational benefits for all students if they experience a diverse teaching force (CCSSO, 2019).  Students of color, specifically black students benefit when they experience at least one educator of color.  Studies have found that black students who had at least one black teacher in third, fourth, or fifth grade were less likely to drop out of high school and more likely to aspire to go to college. 

For Black boys, the dropout rate was cut by 50 % if they had just one black teacher. (Gershenson, Hart, Lindsay, Papageorge, 2017). Research shows that educators of color also benefit white students and prepare all students to “increasingly global society” through exposure and interaction to people of all backgrounds.  Students that have early exposure to people from diverse backgrounds are less likely to have stereotypes, unconscious biases (CCSSO, 2019)