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Neighborhood schools serving minorities and the poor in the U.S. are losing teachers to wealthy districts, according to a study.
''High-minority'' districts are almost twice as likely as richer areas to struggle at retaining math and science teachers, according to the report, released today by the American Institutes for Research, a nonprofit group based in Washington.
The researchers looked at ''highly qualified'' teachers, as judged according to standards under the No Child Left Behind law. In schools for the poor and minority groups, even teachers in that category are generally less experienced than their counterparts in richer schools, according to the report, with less likelihood of having a degree in the subject taught.
More than 90 percent of teachers across the U.S. are deemed ''highly qualified,'' according to the report. The study, based on data gathered from October 2004 to March 2005 from 8,791 teachers at 1,483 public schools throughout the country, was conducted for the federal Education Department.
Almost two-thirds of all schools have difficulty recruiting special-education, science or math teachers, according to the report.
The biggest recruitment obstacle in ''high-poverty,'' ''high-minority'' and urban districts was competition from other schools, the nationwide report said.