New Department of Education Report Provides Demographic Data on the Nation’s Teachers

A new report from the U.S. Department of Education offers detailed data on public school teachers in the United States.

According to the report, in the 2015–16 school year, there were an estimated 3,827,100 teachers in public elementary and secondary schools in the United States. About 3,608,600 taught in traditional public schools and about 218,500 taught in charter schools. About 80 percent of all public school teachers were non-Hispanic White, 9 percent were Hispanic, 6.7 percent were non-Hispanic Black.

African Americans were 6.6 percent of the elementary school teachers, 7.5 percent of the middle school teachers, and 6.3 percent of the high school teachers.

African Americans made up 13 percent of the teachers at schools where 75 percent or more of the student body qualified for free or reduced price lunch. At schools where less than 35 percent of the students qualified for free or reduced price lunch, Blacks made up 2.8 percent of all teachers.

The full 50-page report, Characteristics of Public Elementary and Secondary School Teachers in the United States: Results From the 2015-16 National Teacher and Principal Survey, may be downloaded here.

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