A national shortage of black and Hispanic teachers will endure at least through 2060, a new report from the Brookings Institution says.

The report, "High hopes and harsh realities," uses U.S. Census projections to predict how long it will take for the teaching profession to mirror the increasingly diverse enrollment in America's schools.

More whites go into teaching, and they stay in the job a little longer, explaining a disproportion between the faces of students and their teachers: about half of students are white yet four out of five teachers are.

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The quadrangle at Oxford College of Emory University. The university announced Wednesday it will be tuition-free for undergraduates whose families earn less than $200,000. (Courtesy of Kay Hinton)

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Julian Conley listens during opening statements in his trial at Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. The 25-year-old is accused of fatally shooting 8-year-old Secoriea Turner in July 2020. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

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