Teacher Diversity Can Help Close the Racial Achievement and Disciplinary Gaps in the Iowa City Community School District

The underrepresentation of minority teachers in schools has negative and life-long consequences on minority students. Evidence has shown that the lack of minority teachers is tied to minority students’ educational success and could be a contributing factor to academic achievement and discipline gaps. Academic achievement and disciplinary gaps have been linked to many negative results such as unemployment, crime, poor health and other negative socio-economic outcomes. Using survey data from the Iowa City Community School District, the Equity Implemented Partnership was able to collect and analyze the information specifically for this district. After analyzing this data, we have proposed several recommendations to combat the lack of teacher diversity in the Iowa City Community School District by recruiting and retaining teachers of color and by implementing diversity training among current teachers and staff.