Problem: Only 16% of the US teacher force are teachers of color. This is a problem.

On Saturday, May 1st, 2021 a group of teachers, teacher educators, administrators, and others from around the state of Minnesota and three other states met for conversation. The purpose was to address the problem related to the lack of teachers of color in our classrooms in Minnesota and around the country. Three questions were used to initiate this conversation:

1. What are the filters that keep students of color from entering teacher preparation programs?

2. What are the filters that keep students of color from completing teacher preparation programs?

3. What can we do?