Women posing next to graphic poster with Drive logo.
Photograph courtesy of The Hunt Institute
Partner Spotlight

The Hunt Institute


The Problem

  • Classroom teachers do not reflect the diversity of today’s students. While children of color represent a majority of today’s students in K-12 classrooms, 80% of teachers are white.88
  • Access to teachers and leaders of color benefits students from all backgrounds, particularly positively impacting students of color. Research shows that students of color with teachers of a similar race/ethnicity, identity and lived experience are less likely to be suspended and more likely to graduate high school, and enroll in postsecondary education.89

CZI Support

Along with a broad coalition of partners, the One Million Teachers of Color Campaign is working to build and expand diverse educator talent pipelines, invest in financial support and incentives to recruit and retain educators of color, and make data on teacher and school leader diversity more transparent and actionable — with the ultimate goal of adding one million more teachers of color to U.S. schools.

The Impact

The Hunt Institute and its partners in the One Million Teachers of Color Campaign are raising awareness about the importance of diversifying the nation’s educator workforce and bringing together senior state policymakers to develop solutions. As part of the Campaign, the Hunt Institute facilitated three Educator Diversity Summits in North Carolina, Illinois and California, and is currently planning to facilitate a Summit in Massachusetts. Following a successful Educator Diversity Summit, Illinois is now exploring creating a task force similar to North Carolina’s Developing a Representative and Inclusive Vision for Education (DRIVE) task force to improve the career pipeline for teachers of color.90 Other states expressed interest in creating similar task forces.

The Hunt Institute also launched the first cohort of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion State Officers Network. These programs are reaching more than 600 educators and policymakers nationwide.91

Founded:

2001

Mission:

The Hunt Institute provides unbiased research, technical expertise and learning opportunities that equip and empower educators and policymakers to drive equitable reforms and become audacious champions for education.

My all-time favorite job was being in a classroom. When you impact a child’s life, there’s no greater gift.

Dr. Javaid Siddiqi