Speaker: Students perform better when teachers are culturally competent

YOUNGSTOWN

Nearly 89 percent of teachers working in Youngstown City School District are white. Yet, roughly 64 percent of the students are black.

Less than two percent of teachers and 14 percent of students are Hispanic.

A workshop Monday night entitled “Relationships, Respect & Race: Why Cultural Relevance Matters in Our Schools” took a look at those numbers and sought to bridge racial and cultural gaps between teachers and their students.

Nationwide, teachers are overwhelmingly white, despite the fact minority populations are on pace to become a majority. Over 80 percent of U.S. public school teachers are white and female, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics. In Ohio, that number is close to 90 percent.

About 50 people, some teachers, attended the workshop, which the district hosted at Choffin Career and Technical Center on East Wood Street.

Dr. Rhonda Talford Knight, an assistant professor of education at Muskingum University in New Concord, Ohio, drew on her experience as a former teacher and argued that students perform better when their teachers exhibit what she labeled “cultural competency.”

Read more of her remarks in Tuesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.