FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 2, 2022
(Salem, OR)- The Educator Advancement Council, in partnership with the Oregon Educator Equity Advisory Group, Oregon Department of Education, Oregon Teachers Standards and Practices Commission, and the Higher Education Coordinating Commission announces the release of the 2022 Educator Equity Report.
The Educator Equity Report (https://eac.ode.state.or.us/page/reports-research) is the eighth report published by the state education agencies since 2015 on educator workforce diversification efforts in Oregon.
Presented in this year’s report are:
A summary of the most recent racial, ethnic, and linguistic diversity data collected on the educator workforce, including: candidates enrolled in and completing public approved educator preparation programs; candidates receiving Oregon teaching or administrative licenses; newly employed and educators already employed in the public schools.
A summary of the public universities’ educator preparation programs plans for recruitment, admission, retention and graduation of diverse educators.
A review of best practices in Oregon and other states for recruiting, hiring and retaining diverse educators; additional data is needed to provide a more thorough understanding of how Oregon’s practices and strategies are impacting these areas.
In addition to these requirements, the new changes in statute include a review of the state’s educator diversity goal, including:
determination of the need for additional related state goals;
progress made by the state toward meeting the goal;
and any other additional related state goals;
recommendations;
and a long-term plan for meeting the goal and any other additional related state goals.
Reflecting on the report, EAC Executive Director Dr. Kimberly Matier said, “Oregon needs a systems approach to disrupt the persisting patterns of disparity, disproportionality and predictability in state goal outcomes. As a result of the findings in the report, it is imperative Oregon leverages its policies, practices and resources in ways that allow for deeper learning around root causes of system inequities and build a robust culture of collaborative leadership. When we work effectively together as a team, we can accelerate results toward school systems that ensure success and well-being for every child and adult. The EAC looks forward to working with agency partners to better serve students and professionals working in and across our system.”
The report finds that since the 2010-11 school year, the gap between teacher and student diversity is essentially unchanged. The most recent data follows a consistent trend - while the numbers of racially and ethnically diverse students and teachers continue to increase, the rate at which the student population is growing is consistently the same or a higher rate than in the teacher population, meaning the demographic gap is not being closed. The number of racially and ethnically diverse educators in Oregon’s workforce has only increased by 3.8% over the past 10 years.
According to the report:
The number of teacher, principal, and administrator candidates enrolling in Oregon’s preparation programs has continued to increase over the past four years, yet program completion has decreased in the same period.
Racially and ethnically diverse candidates make up a larger percentage of program completers in 2021 than they did in 2018.
Hispanic teacher candidates are the only diverse group for which enrollment and program completion has increased significantly since 2018.
The full report can be viewed online at https://eac.ode.state.or.us/page/reports-research
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