A homework assignment for all school districts

It’s hard to find a student of any age who will do work before it’s assigned. But it’s time for those lifetime students known as educators to seize an extra-credit assignment.

We know through data as well as day-to-day classroom outcomes that Connecticut needs more — many more — minority classroom teachers. This is underscored by a Connecticut Voices for Children report that details the disparity between Latino students in our cities’ schools and teachers.

New Britain is considerably ahead of other districts with a student Latino population of 64 percent, followed by Hartford and Waterbury (53 percent), Bridgeport (48), New Haven (44) and Stamford (44). These students face virtually no chance of being educated by a Latino teacher, who represent a jarring 4 percent of teachers in Connecticut.

Consider the challenge in relation to the portrait, the class photo and the big picture.

The portrait depicts a Latino student who faces stacked odds. They are twice as likely to face suspension as white classmates. More than onequarter of Latino students do not make it through high school.

The class photo indicates students in city schools lag behind white peers on standardized tests. Slightly more than one-third of Latino juniors recorded the passing range on the English Language Arts section of the SAT exam, a figure that sank to 16 percent in math (about half of white students score at grade level).

Then there’s the big picture. Gov. Dannel Malloy, some of his would-be successors and many lawmakers often point to it. Connecticut’s economic recovery demands better outcomes for minority students. A key to better results is recruiting teachers who provide a reflection of their own lives.

The language barrier some Latino students face isn’t the only contributing factor, but it certainly helps when, for example, a teacher can speak the same language as the parent. Studies also indicate minority teachers demand more, thus getting better results, from students of color.

The recent settlement of a lawsuit challenging the standards of Connecticut’s alternative education to expelled students mandates that the state provide better resources and work more closely with local school districts.

Recent legislation strives to enhance recruiting efforts by modernizing the certification process, developing private partnerships and collaborating with local school boards.

There have been success stories, such as the “Grow Your Own” programs in Danbury, Bridgeport and Hartford, which aim to nurture teachers among the current crop of students.

Connecticut remains a fragmented state, with thick lines between its 169 municipalities. This is just another case where sharing successful ideas is to the common good. A similar shortage of minority police officers inspired the Stamford Police Department to launch a grass-roots campaign a few years ago, working with the local NAACP to recruit at Spanish-language church services and community events.

In this case, we hope more school districts do not wait until the work is assigned to them. Connecticut won’t earn a passing grade until everyone starts doing more work.

We know through data as well as day-to-day classroom outcomes that Connecticut needs more — many more — minority classroom teachers.