Barriers to Racial Equity for Teachers of Color & Indigenous Teachers

Despite California’s extraordinary diversity, the state’s teaching force continues to fall far short of reflecting the students it serves. This report presents a sobering examination of the systemic and structural barriers that hinder the recruitment, retention, and flourishing of Teachers of Color and Indigenous Teachers.

Grounded in both data and lived experience, it illuminates how financial inequities, structural racism, harmful school cultures, exclusionary curricula, and high-stakes testing perpetuate a profession that too often marginalizes those most vital to educational equity.

The findings underscore a profound truth: achieving a just and effective education system depends on dismantling these barriers and ensuring that California’s classrooms are guided by a workforce as rich and diverse as its students.