'Diversity Gap' Between Teachers, Students Is High In Much Of North Carolina

A new analysis from the Brookings Institution shows the diversity gap between teachers and students is generally wide across the country, and particularly stark in North Carolina.

But what is the diversity gap?

Using census data, researchers figure out the percentage of minority children attending school in a region. Then they look at whether those regions have a similar percentage of teachers of color. If a place comes up short on teachers of a particular race, that's a diversity gap.

For black students, the gaps are particularly wide in the South, including much of North Carolina.

For Hispanic children, virtually all of the Western U.S. shows significant gaps. But North Carolina is uniquely challenged here, as well.

And while issues affecting students of color are often presented as urban issues, the Brooking research suggests that this is one that crosses the urban-rural divide.

The authors suggest policymakers who've seen such gaps only as a big city problem rethink their stances, given the data.

So why is this important?

Research suggests that minority students being matched with a teacher of the same race early on can have positive effects all the way through high school. In places where such gaps persist, the opposite can happen.