By Jennifer Pignolet, jpignolet@detroitnews.com
Curtis Lewis is a Michigan State University assistant professor in the College of Education, who founded a school and mentors teachers through his own nonprofit organization.
But he almost didn’t finish his teaching degree. Not because of his grades or finances, but because of the prejudice he said he encountered in his first student teaching experience, which he believed was racially based. Lewis, who is Black, was accused of being lazy, he said, by the teacher who was tasked with evaluating him.
Another teacher stood up for him, Lewis said, and his university got involved to help rectify the situation. Lewis graduated and went on to become a principal, school founder and professor. But the situation could have sunk his teaching career, Lewis said. It also could have discouraged him enough from wanting to be a teacher anymore.
“I was like, ‘This is who I’m supposed (to be), what I’m supposed to be doing,’” Lewis said. “I took that stance very early on, and I’m grateful for that. Some people may not have that, the ability or desire to take a stand.”
Lewis said it’s experiences like his, along with financial burdens and the structure and demands of academia, that often become barriers for people of color to become teachers. The result is a lack of diversity in the teacher workforce.
In 2024-25, 11.3% of Michigan teachers were people of color compared with nearly 40% of the student population, according to a new report from EdTrust Midwest, a Royal Oak-based research and policy group that aims to make Michigan a top 10 education state for all groups of students.
The result, the report found, is that students can go their entire educational journeys without seeing a teacher who looks like them. About 11% of Michigan students go to a school where there are no teachers of color.
The numbers are an improvement since eight years ago, however, when just 8% of teachers were people of color.
The lack of diversity also contributes to the overall teacher shortage, the report noted.
The state Legislature has allocated more than $1 billion over the last three fiscal years to address its teacher shortage, including programs aimed at diversifying the workforce. The Michigan Department of Education said in a statement it is committed to improving the numbers of teachers of color and is hoping to see funding continue for such efforts.
The EdTrust Midwest report said increasing diversity is key to helping solve the teacher shortage, starting with the pipeline.
But as the report also noted, just increasing the pool of qualified candidates to be teachers is not enough. EdTrust’s report showed that even when students of color are accepted to and begin teacher preparation programs, they drop out at a higher rate than their White peers.
“When we discuss this being a pipeline issue, we’re talking about those very early interest points being a teacher in the introductory level courses, where we’re not retaining our students of color,” said Charlotte Pierce, a senior policy analyst for EdTrust Midwest.
A multitude of factors can be at play, she said, but financial burdens are often the biggest. Students may have a change in their life circumstances or need to work at the same time they are in school, and have a hard time balancing both. As a result, the percentage of students of color in teacher preparation programs drops at several points before graduation.
“All of the data in our own research affirms that at many steps along the teacher pipeline — coursework, student teaching certification tests — the teacher candidate pool becomes less diverse,” Pierce said.
Increasing diversity, she said, is not about lowering standards or taking in less-qualified candidates, but about better recruiting and supporting qualified students to become teachers, then continuing to support them through their teaching careers.
EdTrust’s report called for action items, including expanding the pool of applicants to teacher preparation programs with intentional recruitment, fostering inclusive workplaces and making the teacher preparation program culturally relevant.
The Michigan Department of Education said in a statement it “strongly believes that students should see themselves in their teachers.”
The number of teachers of color has increased 34% statewide in the last eight years, including an additional 1,653 Black or African American teachers, an increase of 336 teachers since last year.
“That being said, the department recognizes that more work is necessary to increase the diversity of the state’s educator workforce,” the statement said.
Lewis founded his own organization to try to address the problem. Boldly Moving Education Ahead provides fellowship grants for teachers, focusing on retaining high-quality teachers of color. The organization also provides leadership development and tries to recruit young Black men, in particular, interested in becoming teachers.
Lewis said he talks to those potential teachers about the education field being a way to contribute to one’s community, asking them, “Really think about: Do you want to be a part of change?”
Sometimes, he said, potential teachers have their own trauma they endured in the K-12 space, and it’s hard to think about returning to the classroom. If someone remembers the classroom experience or learning materials being disconnected from the world they live in, Lewis said, they may not want to be a part of it. Add in the low pay of many starting teacher jobs, it starts not to feel worth it sometimes, he said.
“How do we set teachers up for success?” Lewis said. “Because when we do that well, our teachers and our students win.”
Lewis still remembers the names of Black teachers who affected him as a student.
“There are very good, high-quality White teachers that have made a huge impact on my life,” he said. “So we need that. On top of that, there’s still a connection between people that have shared backgrounds, cultural experiences.”
Having diverse teachers is also good for White students, Lewis said, who need to have experiences that represent the diverse world they will join when they graduate. Having teachers who racially represent their student body has been shown to lower suspension rates and increase college enrollment, he said.
“If we could begin to see people in our K-12 spaces who look like us, who come from similar backgrounds, the confidence, the support, I think it’s inevitable the magnitude it could have on one person,” Lewis said.
