California needs more teachers of color. It’s not just because our student population is growing more diverse – nearly 75% of students in Transitional Kindergarten (TK) through 12th grade are students of color– it’s also because of the enormous benefits that teachers of color provide to their schools and communities.

This infographic, Seen, Heard, Reflected: A Look Into California’s Teacher of Color Shortages, sheds light on the growing racial and ethnic disparities between educators and students in our public school system. The findings highlighted in this infographic include:

• More than 250,000 California students are in schools without a teacher of their same race.
• More than 100,000 students attend a school where every teacher is White.
• More than half of schools in California don’t have a Black teacher. 

We know that all students perform better when their schools have a diversified teacher workforce that mirrors the students who learn there. It’s time to make sure that teachers of color and California’s students are seen and heard, and that their needs and insights are reflected in the way we train, recruit, and retain teachers.

Please help us amplify this critical campaign by sharing the infographic, and joining the conversation online using this Digital Toolkit #SeenHeardReflected.