Barriers Along the Pathway into Teaching

Latinx students face unique challenges at various points along their educational trajectory, which ultimately contribute to the underrepresentation of Latinx teachers in the classroom.

Completing PreK–12 Education

Inequities in the earliest years and throughout the PreK–12 system leave the Latinx student population underprepared to complete high school and succeed in higher education. Research shows that high-quality preschool can improve school readiness and academic achievement,¹ but between 2009 and 2011, Latinx children had the lowest enrollment in preschool: 37 percent of Latinx children were enrolled in preschool compared to 50 percent of their White peers.² Latinx students are more likely to attend elementary and secondary schools with higher concentrations of poverty, less qualified and experienced teachers, and fewer Advanced Placement courses.³ By the end of fourth grade, low-income Latinx students can be up to two years behind their wealthier White peers in reading and math.⁴ And based on data from the National Education Longitudinal Study, researchers found a variety of challenges that Latinx students face later in high school: they are more likely to complete high school with lower-math level courses, earn a “C” average or less, and earn a General Equivalency Diploma (GED).⁵

While high school graduation rates for Latinx students have increased in recent years, we still have a Latinx student population that is trailing other groups of students, even before they get to college.⁶

Enrolling in Post-Secondary Education

Successfully navigating the transition from secondary to postsecondary education is challenging, especially for students who do not have family, or often even friends, with the knowledge and experience to guide them through the process. In 2015–2016, almost half (44 percent) of Latinx college students were the first in their families to attend college, compared to 34 percent of Black students, 29 percent of Asian students, and 22 percent of White students.⁷ While school counselors could hypothetically help fill this support gap, 2014–2015 data show that nationally 11 million high school students do not have sufficient access to a school counselor. Making matters worse, the schools serving the most students of color and/or the most students from low-income families are the most shorthanded, leaving the students who most need it with the least access to information and support surrounding the college and financial aid application process.⁸

One of the most significant barriers is the cost of college, as Latinx students tend to have fewer financial resources and less comfort with taking on debt to finance their college goals than White students. While Latinx students made up 18 percent of the U.S. population in 2017, they made up a larger proportion of the population living in poverty (27 percent).⁹ Research suggests that Latinx students are more likely to be loan averse than White students, even after controlling for characteristics like parental education and income.¹⁰ This aversion may help explain why 41 percent of the Latinx students who do go to college choose less expensive two-year community colleges—a much higher rate than for any other race or ethnicity—or colleges that are close to home that may allow them to save on other costs such as room and board.¹¹

Research also shows that the influence of family on educational decisions is greater for Latinx children than for children from other groups.¹² The significant value placed on family and proximity to family is a cultural asset for Latinx individuals. However, it can also lead to students changing or postponing educational aspirations, particularly when they feel responsible for providing financial support for their families.¹³ Research shows that Latinx parents have high educational aspirations for their children, but for students, balancing the high cost of college with familial responsibilities is challenging.¹⁴ According to a study by the Pew Hispanic Center, nearly three-quarters of 16- to 25-year-old Latinx survey respondents who have a high school education or less cited needing to support their family as a reason for not continuing their education.¹⁵ The support is not always financial; caregiving can make it especially difficult for children to make decisions that require being geographically distant from family. If students do decide to move away to pursue individual aspirations, researchers at the University of Texas at San Antonio find that they can require counseling and emotional support around “phases of life difficulties, dealing with different role expectations, or guilty feelings of leaving or ‘neglecting’ the family.”¹⁶

And given that teaching is increasingly viewed as a low-status career with low pay, the decision to pursue education can also be impacted by internal or familial pressure to pursue careers that will more likely lead to social and financial advancement for the individual, and for their larger family.¹⁷ A survey of minority teacher candidates’ motivations and obstacles found that many of them face pressure from their families to choose a more lucrative career.¹⁸ Latinx survey respondents in particular shared that minorities who make it through college and attain a degree do not want to “settle for a teacher’s salary,” or they want a job with a salary that will allow them to help their families.¹⁹

Despite these challenges, the number of Latinx individuals enrolling in college has been increasing steadily over the past two decades.²⁰

Meeting Requirements for Educator Preparation Programs

Teacher candidates typically have to take a basic skills test and a content-specific test—and in an increasing number of states, a classroom performance assessment—on their path to becoming certified.²¹ The basic skills test in particular is often used as a prerequisite to being admitted into an educator preparation program. But candidates of color have lower passing rates on basic skills tests than their White peers, on average.²² The Education Testing Service, which produces the commonly used Praxis exams for prospective teachers, conducted an analysis and found that Latinx candidates were about 20 percent less likely to pass its Praxis I (core academic skills test focused on math, reading, and writing) than White test takers.²³ While the intention of these tests may be to identify gaps in academic skills and to screen out candidates who do not have the knowledge or skills to be effective teachers,²⁴ some research questions whether basic skills exams are strong predictors of effective teaching.²⁵

Not surprisingly, then, the issue of testing requirements regularly comes up in discussions around how to recruit and prepare more teacher candidates, candidates of color and bilingual candidates in particular. What most concerns many advocates for a more diverse teaching workforce is that the basic skills test is often keeping otherwise-promising candidates from even being able to enter a preparation program. According to 2017 data from the National Council on Teacher Quality, 26 states required passing a basic skills test before entering a teacher preparation program, 20 states required passing a basic skills test during or upon completion of a preparation program, and five states did not require candidates to take a basic skills test.²⁶

Earning a Bachelor’s Degree

Of the students who do graduate from high school and go on to college, some are so ill-prepared that they have to enroll in remedial education—courses that focus on basic skills in math and reading and do not count toward a degree—which ends up wasting time and money, and makes it less likely that they will persist and complete their college degree. In 2015–2016, 30 percent more Black and Latinx students than White students took a remedial course in college,²⁷ which can be traced back to the English and math courses that Black and Latinx students are more likely to complete in high school, and inequitable access to strong teaching.²⁸

Another contributing factor to the lag in bachelor’s degrees for Latinx students is the high proportion of those who attend two-year community colleges and do not transfer to a four-year college. Once at a community college, students often struggle to transfer to a four-year college to complete their bachelor’s degree because of difficulty transferring credits or meeting more selective admission criteria at a four-year college.²⁹ Latinx students who attend two-year colleges struggle to complete their degree more than other groups of students: of the Latinx students who started at a two-year public institution in 2012, only 36 percent completed a degree within six years, compared to 48 percent of White students.³⁰

The pool of Latinx teachers is shallow because not enough Latinx students are graduating high school, enrolling in college, and earning a bachelor's degree.³¹ Of those who do attend and complete college, Latinx individuals become teachers at almost the same rate as White college graduates: 9 percent of Latinx graduates go on to teach, compared to 11 percent of White graduates.³²

While the barriers on the pathway into teaching for Latinx students start early, a few key factors can help them over these barriers.

Addressing these barriers requires a multi-faceted and collaborative approach that spans the PreK–12 and higher education systems. We profile three pathways that are implementing such an approach to create a more robust Latinx teaching workforce. First is a pathway into teaching program in Skagit Valley, Washington, where collaboration between a state-funded high school teacher academy program, a local community college, and a four-year college provides Latinx students intensive advising to keep them on track to completing an education degree. Second is a long-standing program at an HSI in San Antonio, Texas that has recently extended its reach to high schools and community colleges to recruit more Latinx students into critical teaching shortage areas. And third is a partnership in Chicago, Illinois between the local public-school district and an HSI which has developed a bilingual teacher residency program that is helping non-certified staff and community members earn their teaching license.