New Jersey’s public school teachers and school professional staff do not represent the diversity of the state’s students, an NJ Spotlight News analysis found.

In the school year that just ended, roughly 82% of teachers, administrators, supervisory and special services staff were non-Hispanic white, compared with a student population that was less than half that — 38.5% white — according to the analysis of fall survey and certificated staff data from the NJ Department of Education.

Students of color, meanwhile, were often left without seeing teachers who look like them, with charter schools tending to have more diverse teaching staffs. Numerous studies have shown the benefits of a diverse educator force for all students, regardless of race or ethnicity.

In a report titled “The importance of a diverse teaching force,” the nonprofit, nonpartisan Brookings Institute discussed a number of positive outcomes when students have teachers of color in whom they might see themselves.

“Minority students often perform better on standardized tests, have improved attendance, and are suspended less frequently (which may suggest either different degrees of behavior or different treatment, or both) when they have at least one same-race teacher,” according to the report.

The Brookings report cited a report that found a significant benefit to young, disadvantaged Black youths, in particular, writing, “if a black male student has at least one black teacher in the third, fourth, or fifth grade, he is significantly less likely to drop out of high school and more likely to aspire to attend a four-year college … a disadvantaged black male’s exposure to at least one black teacher in elementary school reduces his probability of dropping out of high school by nearly 40 percent. This estimated effect is not just statistically significant, but also highly educationally relevant.”

Statewide, a third of public school students were Hispanic in 2022–2023, but just 8% of teachers and professional staff were Latino. Just 12% of New Jersey school districts had Hispanic teaching staffs that roughly mirrored the proportion of students in the district who were Latino.

A new report from Chalkbeat says Black and Latino students make up 90% of the Newark’s school population, though Black and Latino teachers make up just over half of the staff.

“We’re also seeing that the population of Latino students has grown at a rate that far outpaces the Latino teachers in Newark,” said Chalkbeat Newark reporter Jessie Gomez in an interview with NJ Spotlight News’ Brianna Vannozi.

Statewide, the NJ Spotlight News analysis found that 7% of schools had staff where the number of Black teachers matched or exceeded the size of Black students in the school. Close to half of those were charter schools. Of typical school districts, Irvington did the best at recruiting Black teachers, who made up almost 61% of the staff, while the student population was more than 70% African American.

The Closter school district in Bergen County had the largest Asian teaching staff of any typical district statewide — 13%. But more than 41% of students in the district were Asian.

State education officials and lawmakers have been looking at the issue for more than four years and have taken some steps to try to attract more people of color to teaching. The DOE had set a goal of having the ranks of new educators, those teaching four years or less, reflect the diversity of public school students by 2025, but it’s unclear whether the state will meet that goal.