Whites Replacing Blacks as Teachers in New York City Public Schools

It is widely believed that African-American schoolchildren are more likely to succeed in preparing for college if they have a large number of African-American teachers as role models in high school. Black teachers, too, may be less likely to succumb to the stereotype of low expectations for black students.

But for black students in the school system of the nation’s largest city, the number of new black teachers is half of what was the case just five years ago. The New York City Department of Education reports that in 2001 blacks made up 27.2 percent of the 8,000 new teachers hired by the city. For the current academic year, blacks made up only 14 percent of all new teachers hired for the public school system.

White teachers are taking the place of blacks. In 2001 whites were 54 percent of the new teaching hires. In 2006 whites made up 68 percent of the new teachers.

Copyright © 2006. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.