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A Community College Pathway into Teacher Education Increases Diversity in Teacher Candidates

Teacher reading with young students

The need to diversify the teaching workforce is well documented (Darling-Hammond, 2010). Student demographics across the United States have significantly changed in the last 20 years, with particular increases in bilingual and Hispanic student populations (Aud, Hussar, Kena, Bianco, Frohlich, Kemp, &Tahan, 2011). However, the teaching workforce has not reflected the shift in student demographics, and a growing gap has emerged between the racial and ethnic backgrounds of students and teachers. Because community colleges serve a high percentage of diverse students, a community college pathway into teaching represents a promising approach for increasing the diversity of the teaching workforce.