By Edgar Palacios

At the Latinx Education Collaborative, we think a lot about what the world would look like if the number of Latinx teachers mirrored the number of Latinx students in K-12. Today, there are roughly three times as many Latinx students in schools than there are Latinx educators. And while some may not think that that issue in itself is striking or as important as any of the other critical issues the education world faces today, we believe that representation in classrooms is a foundational step in changing and improving the outcomes of Latinx students.

The Latinx community is severely underrepresented in positions of leadership and influence. The data demonstrate:

• 1% of all elected and appointed offices are held by Latinos

• Latinos only comprised less than one percent of CEOs at top Fortune 500 companies

• Latino actors barely landed 4.5% of more than 47,000 speaking roles in the 100 top-grossing U.S. movies from each of the past 12 years and only 3% were leads or co-leads

So where do we begin to fill the Latinx leadership pipeline in order to improve the numbers of Latinos serving in positions of influence and leadership? Classrooms. How do we do that? By making sure that there are qualified Latinx educators that are strong in their identity, connected to their community, and can serve as advocates and champions for Latinx students.

In order to build equitable and inclusive environments for Latinx students to thrive, we must have Latinx educators at the tables where decisions are being made. And as a bonus, ALL students have better educational outcomes when they have access to diverse educators.

Edgar J. Palacios is the President & CEO of the Latinx Education Collaborative (LEC), an organization that dutifully works to increase and retain the number of quality Latinx education professionals in K-12. Edgar previously owned a nonprofit consultancy (EJPKC, LLC) and has had the privilege of working with organizations such as Community Builders of Kansas City; Junior Achievement of Greater Kansas City; El Centro, Inc.; Show Me KC Schools; and the Kauffman Foundation.