A Snapshot of the Status of African Americans Among School Principals in the United States

A new report from the U.S. Department of Education looks at the demographic characteristics of elementary and secondary school principals in the United States.

Overall, during the 2017-18 school year, 78 percent of school principals were non-Hispanic White, 11 percent were non-Hispanic Black or African American, 9 percent were Hispanic, and 3 percent were another race/ethnicity. Blacks were 16.3 percent of all principals at public charter schools.

Blacks made up slightly more than 20 percent of all principals in urban schools but only 9.4 percent of all principals in suburban schools and 4.5 percent of all principals at schools in rural areas.

African Americans were more than 20 percent of all principals at schools where 75 percent of all students qualified for federally financed school lunches. But Blacks were only 3.8 percent of the principals where less than 35 percent of all students qualified for free lunches.

Among private school principals, 86 percent were non-Hispanic White, 5 percent were non-Hispanic Black or African American, 5 percent were Hispanic, and 4 percent were another race/ethnicity.

The full 63-page report, Characteristics of Public and Private Elementary and Secondary School Principals in the United States: Results From the 2017–18 National Teacher and Principal Survey, can be downloaded by clicking here.

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