KIMBERLY HEFLING
AP Education Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Education Department is announcing a new initiative to attract quality teachers to the schools that need them most.
It comes the same day President Barack Obama is scheduled to have lunch with teachers at the White House to discuss the issue.
Education Department data show that black and American Indian students are four times as likely as their white peers to go to a school where more than 20 percent of teachers are in their first year. Latino students are three times as likely.
The department says it will ask states to come up with new and comprehensive educator equity plans. It is also investing $4.2 million to start a new technical assistance network to help states and districts create and implement such plans.
