Daniels signs bill to address racial diversity of teachers

Gov. Mitch Daniels signed a bill Wednesday addressing the underrepresentation of racial diversity in Indiana teachers and developing initiatives to recruit educators from underrepresented populations.

Daniels signed bill number HEA 1479, which was authored by Indiana Rep. Greg Porter. The bill now signed into law includes certain agendas to ease the recruitment process.

The first initiative calls for development of a recruitment plan, but the plan itself is not specified in the bill.

The second proposes the development of a Web site that will “provide resource information and scholarship opportunities,” according to the bill.

Eric Love, director of the Office of Diversity Education at IU, said this initiative provides scholarship opportunities for education majors, specifically for non-Caucasian students.

The third proposal in the law calls for the “development of a research agenda ... to address challenges faced by students of underrepresented populations in order to recruit, retain and graduate these students,” according to the bill.

Love said students from underrepresented populations have higher dropout rates.
“Latino- and African-Americans are dropping out at higher percentage rates than mainstream white students,” Love said. He said he thinks the implementation of a more diverse teacher base would decrease dropout rates.

Porter said he believes as we look at education, there is a direct correlation between the frequency of ethnicities of teachers and students.

In Indiana, 77 percent of students are white, while 12 percent are black. In contrast to the 1960s and ‘70s, when America saw a lot of minority teachers, white teachers account for 95 percent of today’s positions, while black teachers account for 4 to 5 percent, Porter said.

Both Porter and Love said they see a relationship between high dropout rates and a non-diverse teacher selection.

The law is not solely intended to curb minority dropout rates, however. Love said he believes this measure is also excellent for white students with diverse backgrounds.
“It also will help students succeed long-term in an ever–growing global economy,” he said.

Love said change will come when the population learns to distinguish diversity issues.

“The sooner we recognize issues regarding diversity, which are societal issues, the sooner we will start to see changes for the better for everybody,” Love said.