Rising enrollment is no surprise to teachers and school administrators who have been responding to rising birth rates starting in the late 1980s and all through the 1990s. The growing racial and ethnic diversity of students also has been well-documented.
But the level of diversity among today’s students is striking when compared to the
baby-boom generation.

In 1972, 79 percent of the K–12 student population was white non-Hispanic, 14 percent black, and the remaining one percent, Asian, Pacific Islander, and other races. Only six percent were Hispanic. In 1999, 64 percent of elementary and high school students were white non-Hispanic, 16 percent black, five percent Asian, Pacific Islander, and other races, and 15 percent Hispanic. Moreover, the Census Bureau’s population projections indicate that the school-age population (ages six to 12 years) will become even more diverse in future years.

The growing diversity of students is a reminder for the need of all colleges of education to recruit, enroll, and prepare a diverse population of future teachers. Our college is unwavering in its long-term commitment to the development of a school workforce that accurately reflects its students and its communities.

Our flagship effort to get more people of color in education, the Common Ground Consortium (CGC), is highlighted in this issue of Link. CGC is a collaboration between the college and 10 Historically Black Colleges and Universities. CGC and the college’s other multicultural outreach programs work to increase the number of teachers of color and break a catch-22: Students of color who don’t see teachers of color in their classrooms are less likely to become teachers themselves.