Disappearing Diversity and the Probability of Hiring a Non-White Teacher: An Analysis of Principals’ Hiring Patterns in Predominantly White Schools

Abstract

This study investigates whether a principal’s likelihood of hiring a teacher of color is sensitive to the racial composition of students in the school. We used an administrative dataset from Texas including 59,157 principal observations and 662,997 teacher observations spanning 2000–2017 to consider whether or not the disappearing diversity in a majority White school is a factor in principals’ decisions to hire teachers of color. We examined the hiring patterns of principals within schools where 50% of the students were White and compared the probability that a non-White teacher would be hired as the homogeneity of the student body increased (that is, as increasing proportions of the student body were White). We found that White principals were less likely to hire teachers of color as the proportion of White students approached 100%. This study provides initial evidence that teacher hires are sensitive not only to the principal’s race but also to the racial composition of the student body. Specifically, as the diversity of the student body disappears, so too does the principal’s likelihood of hiring a teacher of color.