This ACER brief updates RFA’s prior analyses of teacher and student race and ethnicity in Allegheny County public schools with data current through the 2022-23 school year.
We found that in 2022-23, teachers of color (TOCs) represented just 4.6% of approximately 10,700 total teachers in the county’s public schools. In contrast, students of color (SOCs) made up 37.6% of students. These SOC-to-TOC disparities were larger than statewide or national disparities, and they exist across each race and ethnicity subgroup.
Moreover, the gaps are growing in Allegheny County. Over the past 10 years, the rate of SOCs has increased in county schools, while the rate of TOCs has been stagnant. While the numbers of Hispanic, Asian, and other TOCs have slowly increased, the number of Black teachers decreased by more than 10%. This rate of decline in the number of Black teachers exceeded changes in the county’s overall Black population.
For a detailed examination of the factors contributing to recruitment, retention, and attrition of Black teachers in Allegheny County, see RFA’s concurrently published study, Small but Mighty: Lessons from Black Teachers’ Experiences in Allegheny County.
A repository of RFA’s prior educator diversity research, along with downloadable data on teacher demographics for each school, district, county, and the state of Pennsylvania, is available at https://www.researchforaction.org/pennsylvania-educator-diversity-research/
