Oregon makes progress towards educator diversity, report finds

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – While Oregon is making "strides" in diversifying its educator workforce, more work needs to be done for teachers and staff to proportionally represent their racially and ethnically diverse students, according to a new report.

On Friday, the Education Advancement Council released the 2024 Oregon Educator Equity Report showing progress in the state's goals of a more diverse education workforce.

The council noted that despite slow progress, Oregon and other states are looking to recruit and retain more teachers of color.

"There has never been a more urgent moment to invest in educator preparation, success, and retention in Oregon," the report said.

Among the report’s key findings, Oregon has seen improvement in early career educator diversity. This includes Oregon doubling the proportion of first-year teachers who identify as people of color, reaching over 20% in 2023, according to the report.

In the past decade, officials added, the number of racially and ethnically diverse teachers with five or fewer years of experience tripled.

While half of Oregon’s racially and ethnically diverse teachers had less than five years of experience in 2023-24, new teachers – especially in Special Education teachers and teachers of color, still face high turnover rates.

A second key finding: increasing diversity in education majors in community colleges. Despite the increase in diverse students studying education in college, the report noted the completion rates of educator preparation programs in Oregon for racial and ethnically diverse groups are declining.

Next, the report found that K-12 state agencies are also seeing growth in diversity, but progress is needed.

According to the report, the number of diverse candidates who receive preliminary teaching and administrator licenses is rising – noting the proportion of emergency or restricted license holders are racially and ethnically diverse compared to preliminary license holders in the state for 2023.

The largest educator group that’s the least diverse are licensed K-12 teachers, while non-licensed staff are more diverse and growing faster, the report found -- adding that Hispanic/Latino educators are notably underrepresented in proportion to Hispanic/Latino students.

The report offered four recommendations to increase educator diversity.

The first recommendation is to increase affordability and career preparation programs and expand non-traditional pathways into K-12 education.

Next, the report suggested placing early career teachers and administrators in “supportive environments,” provide culturally response training and high-quality mentoring.

Officials also recommend reducing financial barriers for educators through scholarships and to expand state tracking of workforce development metrics.