1. Des Moines Register
August 25, 2013 Sunday
Iowa sees thin gain in hiring teachersof color
BYLINE: Mary Stegmeir, mstegmeir@dmreg.com
SECTION: EDUCATION
LENGTH: 2721 words
Juawar Kallo and Nyamal Billio escaped war-torn Sudan, graduated from high school in Des Moines and are
enrolled in college classes.
The Sudanese refugees, both 17, credit their accomplishments in part to the one ― and only ― African-
American teacher they studied under in Iowa's largest school district.
The teens say they wish they had encountered more minority instructors. Students of color made up more
than half of the Des Moines student body in 2012-13, yet just 4 percent of teachers were minorities, district
records show.
The number of African-American, Latino and Asian children is rising dramatically in Iowa schools, from 10.4
percent a decade ago to 19.3 percent in 2011-12. Yet the number of teachers of color has barely changed,
up just half of a percentage point to 2.2 percent in the same period.
In 2012-13, 10 of Des Moines' roughly 60 schools were staffed entirely by white teachers, according to data
supplied by the district.
Minority students notice the gap, said Billio, a 2013 graduate of Lincoln High School.
Although no definitive research shows students of color learn more from educators of the same race or
ethnicity, several small-scale studies have found a correlation.
Billio, who attends Des Moines Area Community College, is blunt about the difference.
"Being the same skin" matters, she said. Good teachers can be found in every race or ethnicity, Billio noted.
Yet in her experience, minority teachers "engage more" with minority students, she said.
In Billio's case, Gerald Joseph ― an African-American who taught Billio in a Callanan Middle School science
class ― was the person she called on this summer for help filling out paperwork for college.
The case for diversity
In Iowa and across the nation, minority students are more likely than whites to drop out of high school.
The math and reading scores of African-American and Hispanic students lag behind those of their peers.
As adults, both blacks and Hispanics face high rates of incarceration.
Those trends are both troubling and long-standing. And changing demographics in the U.S. and in Iowa have
spurred a sense of urgency among educators to find ways to better serve youth of color.
In 2011, for the first time, more than half of all babies born in the U.S. were minorities, census data show.
Eight of Iowa's 348 school systems ― Columbus, Denison, Des Moines, Marshalltown, Perry, Postville,
Storm Lake and West Liberty ― were considered "majority minority" districts in 2012-13.
Last year in Marshalltown, 57 percent of students were minorities, compared to just 6 percent of teachers. In
Des Moines, children of color have outnumbered their white counterparts since the fall of 2010. Yet 96
percent of Des Moines teachers last school year were white.

2. "Our schools need to be more reflective of the kids they serve," parent Cory Williams said. "This is the era of
No Child Left Behind, but now, more than ever, I see kids of color in our community being left behind. They
can't connect with their teachers. There's a huge cultural chasm."
African-American middle and high school students in Des Moines and other U.S. urban districts are
disproportionately singled out as having discipline problems, data show.
Black and Hispanic youth are also less likely to attend college than their white peers.
"I think all that goes back to a lack of connection," said Williams, an instructor with the Isiserettes Drill and
Drum Corps in Des Moines. "We have kids - good kids - who are tuning out. I think having teachers in our
schools who look like our students could go a long way to help combat that."
White students also would benefit from a more diverse teaching force, said Peter LeBlanc, principal of King
Elementary School in Des Moines.
"It teaches kids how real life is going to be out in the workforce," he said. "You need to work with all kinds of
different people. Kids should see that modeled in their schools."
Stepping up recruitment
Getting closer to parity remains a challenge ― especially in states such as Iowa, where the growth of young
minority populations outpaces demographic trends as a whole.
In addition, African-American and Hispanic students are less likely to graduate from college, further
winnowing the field of potential minority teachers.
"But that's not to say that districts should not make an effort to address that disparity and to bring a little bit
more congruence between the student body and the educators," said Enrique Murillo, an education professor
with California State University, San Bernardino. "We know that quality educators are the single most
determining school-based factor that correlates to graduation rates, student achievement and college
eligibility for Latino students."
In 2012-13, just under 3 percent of teachers in the Des Moines school district were African-American,
compared with 17 percent of students.
A similar gap exists between Hispanic educators and pupils, with 2 percent of teachers identifying as Latino,
compared with 23 percent of students.
The disparity caused public outcry earlier this year when none of the three finalists selected for Des Moines'
superintendent position was a minority.
Thomas Ahart, who eventually received the job, has since led efforts to increase minorities in district
leadership positions.
The school district hired an executive search firm this spring to help recruit qualified candidates of color for
top central office positions.
The district's new chief schools officer, Kregg Cuellar, and director of high schools, Alisa Zapata-Farmer, are
Hispanic, Ahart said.
Corey Harris, who joined the district last month as director of middle schools, is African-American.
In fall 2012, all teachers went through six hours of cultural awareness training to learn strategies for
connecting with students from various racial and ethnic backgrounds, Ahart said. District officials are also
working to create a master's degree program that will address the nuances of urban education.
"I feel like we've made some good strides." Ahart said. "We have a long ways to go to have a teaching and
administrative staff that's reflective of our population, but the more that we can get a leadership team that
reflects that, I think the easier it will be to recruit teachers."
Higher rates in Waterloo
Twenty-seven percent of administrators and 7 percent of teachers in the Waterloo school district are
minorities, giving it one of the state's most diverse school workforces.

3. The district has partnered with Wartburg College in Waverly to provide stipends for nontraditional minority
college students working toward teaching degrees. Officials also travel to career fairs at historically black
colleges and universities.
In addition, Waterloo middle and high school students who show an interest in the profession are invited to
join the district's Multicultural Future Teacher Academy.
Sioux City schools launched a similar effort this month to entice minority high school students to pursue
teaching.
"Schools are a reflection of the communities they serve," said Sioux City Superintendent Paul Gausman.
"That's an area of great importance to us, and it's one that in the upper Midwest, that we really struggle with."
In Des Moines, the school district partnered last year with DMACC and Drake University to support
prospective teachers who are minorities.
The initiative is modeled after a similar program that operated in the Des Moines school system from 2005 to
2009. A federal grant of $850,000 paid for the program.
Genesis Beltran, 25, a Hiatt Middle School office manager who is Hispanic, is part of the initiative's latest
iteration.
Earlier, as a sergeant in the U.S. Army, she enjoyed helping young people transform their lives. Beltran
hopes soon to provide the same support and guidance to Des Moines students.
"When I went to school I don't ever remember seeing any Hispanic teachers," she said. "Here (at Hiatt),
we're over 50 percent English Language Learners. Just being able to communicate and show students they
can do it is important. Everybody needs role models."
Benefits of diverse faculty
The notion that a multicultural staff can better serve students is not a new argument.
A diverse teaching force can yield several positive benefits for schools and the communities they serve, said
Richard Ingersoll, an education researcher at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
Minority teachers are more likely to understand the cultural backgrounds of minority students, he said, and
they're poised to act as role models to the children they serve.
In Iowa, lawmakers commissioned a study on minority teacher recruitment in 2010. But no statewide funding
has been earmarked to recruit minority teachers.
Roughly two-thirds of all states have sponsored programs aimed at recruiting minority educators in their
schools, Ingersoll said.
But his research shows that schools need to improve retention rates among teachers of color.
Since the 1980s, "the number of minority teachers has increased, but unfortunately, minority teachers also
have higher quit rates (and) higher turnover rates," Ingersoll said.
He points to Teach Tomorrow in Oakland, Calif., as a program that succeeds in both the recruitment and
retention of minority instructors.
The initiative was launched in 2008 as a partnership between Oakland's mayor's office and its school
system.
Since its inception, Teach Tomorrow has helped 111 adults become district teachers, said manager Rachelle
Rogers-Ard.
The program boasts a 73 percent retention rate. The majority of those placed are African-American.
Recruiting efforts this summer are focused on Latinos.
"Teach Tomorrow in Oakland was formed because the community wanted to see people from Oakland
teaching in our schools," Rogers-Ard said.
Seeking connections

4. Having the opportunity to learn from more teachers of color would motivate Iowa's young minority population,
said Lizeth Ornelas, a senior at Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines.
Ornelas, 18, and her sister, Stephanie, 15, attended Goodrell Middle School in Des Moines before
transferring to Dowling. The girls' parents emigrated from Mexico.
Both sisters are high-achievers. They do well in the classroom and are involved in extracurricular activities.
Yet when the younger Ornelas reflects back on the teacher who most inspired her, she thinks immediately of
her sixth-grade Spanish instructor, a Hispanic woman. "We had the same background," Stephanie said. "She
told us how she came to be in the profession and how anything was possible."
African-American students yearn for similar connections, said Jacqueline Stewart, a science teacher at Hoyt
Middle School in Des Moines.
"The students in my classroom, the African-American females and even some of the Latino females, they
feel that they can come and talk to me more easily than some of the other teachers," said Stewart, who is
black.
Joseph, who has mentored refugees Kallo and Billio since middle school, said Des Moines and other Iowa
school districts should recruit more people of color to help students feel at home inside the classroom.
But at the same time, Joseph is quick to point out that teachers of all ethnicities have the potential to lift up
kids of color.
Joseph, who is black, grew up in the U.S. Kallo and Billio - like roughly 16 percent of last year's Des Moines
student body - have a native language other than English.
"You can come from another race, but if you show that passion and commitment to kids, it can break down
barriers," he said. "Whatever a kid's story is, you need to take time to learn it."
***
Linked to improved performance
Whether for homework help or advice on a personal issue, black students at Des Moines' Roosevelt High
School are more likely to seek guidance from an African-American teacher, senior Johnneisha Long said.
"In general, African-American students are more comfortable with other African-Americans," said Long, 17.
"The African-Americans at Roosevelt are more drawn to go to the few African-American teachers that we do
have as opposed to white teachers, simply because they feel more open to talk to them."
Research suggests that minority students may also perform better in classes taught by minority instructors,
said Ulrich Boser, a researcher with the Washington, D.C.-based Center for American Progress.
"There are different ways of slicing and dicing the data, but certainly it makes common sense to suggest that
minority teachers aren't just simply role models ― those teachers can also be more effective with students,"
he said.
A 2004 study by a Stanford University researcher found that Tennessee students assigned to a teacher of
the same race saw increased math and reading test scores.
A 2011 report from the National Bureau of Economic Research showed minority community college students
were more likely to pass classes taught by minority instructors.
― Mary Stegmeir
State seeks diverse workforce

5. As the number of minority students in Iowa grows, districts across the state should work to diversify their
workforces, said Isaiah McGee, an equity consultant with the Iowa Department of Education.
The issue often comes up during the state accreditation process, McGee said.
"We do look to see if an effort has been made to recruit minorities and make (job) opportunities known," he
said.
The state also launched an effort last year encouraging school leaders to provide training to increase cultural
awareness among their staff, McGee said.
All students, he noted, benefit from seeing minorities in classrooms.
McGee previously worked as a teacher in the Johnston and Waukee districts.
"I saw it as an opportunity to work with white students who may not necessarily get to see a positive role
model of color," McGee said.
― Mary Stegmeir
Districts, states try to grow their own
SIOUX CITY: Leaders with Sioux City schools aren't waiting for minority teachers to come knocking on their
door.
Instead, they're developing their own.
Starting this fall, high school students can sign up for a program that prepares teens to pursue a post-
secondary teaching degree. It is one of 16 "career cluster" course loads available to Sioux City students.
Roughly 44 percent of Sioux City students are minorities, compared with 4 percent of teachers.
"Like most urban school districts, we have a high minority population, and we know that many of our current
students would be very successful if they chose to go into education," Superintendent Paul Gausman said.
"Our hope is that once they've gone off and earned their degree, they will come back to their hometown and
serve the school district."
ILLINOIS: The most successful recruitment programs include support for new teachers once they enter the
profession, said Anne Hallett, director of Grow Your Own Illinois.
The state-funded program seeks to increase the number of minority teachers by offering tuition assistance,
career counseling and academic support to adults who want to go back to school to pursue a teaching
degree.
"It's effective and it's equitable," Hallett said. "Kids of color need to see people who look like them in positions
of authority in their classrooms."
DES MOINES: The 3D Coalition in Des Moines - a partnership between the school district, DMACC and
Drake University - will offer similar services to employees already working in the city's schools.
The coalition is still seeking grant funding. Once fully operational, it will assist existing school employees as
they work toward four-year teaching degrees. Twenty-one employees, including receptionists and teacher's
aides, are already enrolled in the program.
The initiative is modeled after a similar program Des Moines operated from 2005 to 2009, paid for with an
$850,000 federal grant. The program served 46 people. Thirty-two of the 34 graduates teach in Des Moines
schools.
Andrew Rasmussen, president of the Des Moines Education Association, said he wants to see a similar
effort aimed at students.

6. "Ideally, we would be able to recruit minority teachers from our minority students, and help them get
interested in teaching and education," Rasmussen said. "We could help them get the training they need, and
then help bring them back to the Des Moines school district as employees."
--- Mary Stegmeir
Copyright 2013 Des Moines Register
All Rights Reserved