The New York City school system will be spending $16.5 million to recruit nonwhite male teachers for its system to better reflect the student population it serves, says the Wall Street Journal.

The multi-million dollar initiative seeks to add 1,000 black, Latino and Asian men to NYC classrooms by 2017.

"According to data from the city’s Department of Education, Black, Latino and Asian male students comprise 43% of the one million students in the city’s public prekindergarten, elementary, middle and high schools. But men of the same races make up 8.3% of the approximately 76,000 teachers at those schools,” the WSJ said.

According to the article, the city has been experiencing a backward slide in hiring and retaining nonwhite male teachers that has left it with a significantly not diverse teaching staff.

The article estimates the city loses 450 to 500 nonwhite male teachers per year while it only hires 350 new ones.

The allocated money will be spent helping not only to recruit nonwhite teachers, but to also create mentorship programs that will help train new hires to support the students they serve.

"In New York City, the new cohort of teachers will be primarily drawn from the City University of New York. The city estimates that teachers employed through the NYC Teaching Fellows and Teach for America programs will fill about 400 slots,” the article said.

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Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

11/24/2015