Retaining Teachers of Color: A Pressing Problem and a Potential Strategy for “Hard-to-Staff” Schools

Abstract

Given calls to diversify the teaching workforce, this review examines research on retention and turnover of teachers of color, focusing on new teachers because they leave at disproportionately high rates. Reviewing 70 studies, the authors found that (a) recent national studies identify turnover rates for teachers of color are now higher than those for White teachers; (b) policy-amenable school-level conditions related to financial, human, social, and cultural capital can affect retention; (c) teachers of color are more likely than Whites to work and remain in “hard-to-staff” urban schools with high proportions of students from low-income and nondominant racial and cultural communities; and (d) factors affecting the retention of teachers of color can contribute to staffing urban schools with quality teachers, including teachers’ humanistic commitments, innovative approaches in the professional preparation of teachers of color, and the presence of multicultural capital in schools.