Equity & Diversity Report Roundup

Students’ Scores Found to Rise When Teachers Look Like Them

By Stephen Sawchuk — March 17, 2015 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Students, especially black and low-performing elementary pupils, appear to benefit academically from being taught by a teacher of their own race, according to a new analysis of Florida test data.

In a study to appear in the April volume of Economics of Education Review, researchers from Harvard University, the University of Arkansas, and the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs used a value-added model to examine the relationship between teacher ethnicity and nearly 10 million student math- and reading-test scores in grades 3-10 from 2001-02 to 2008-09.

After controlling for students’ prior test performance, socioeconomic status, and other characteristics, the researchers found higher test scores when teachers were of the same race as their students. The effect was small overall, but stronger for certain groups and grades of students. Black students matched with a black teacher, for instance, had gains equal to moving from the 50th percentile to the 53rd percentile, while Asian students matched with an Asian teacher in high school were associated with improvements equal to moving from the 50th to the 55th percentiles. Black and white students in the bottom third of student performance also seemed to get more out of having a same-race teacher than more-advantaged peers.

There was one exception to the overall pattern: Hispanic students, for whom the data sometimes showed a negative correlation from being matched with a Hispanic teacher. That may be because of the huge diversity in that population, which includes Spanish-speaking students of Caribbean, South American, Mexican, and Central American descent.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the March 18, 2015 edition of Education Week as Students’ Scores Found to Rise When Teachers Look Like Them

Events

Student Well-Being K-12 Essentials Forum Boosting Student and Staff Mental Health: What Schools Can Do
Join this free virtual event based on recent reporting on student and staff mental health challenges and how schools have responded.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Curriculum Webinar
Practical Methods for Integrating Computer Science into Core Curriculum
Dive into insights on integrating computer science into core curricula with expert tips and practical strategies to empower students at every grade level.
Content provided by Learning.com

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Equity & Diversity Race Is a Big Factor in School Closures. What You Need to Know
Districts are more likely to close majority Black schools, researcher says.
5 min read
Key in keyhole on wood door
iStock/Getty Images Plus
Equity & Diversity Opinion There's a Difference Between Equity and Equality. Schools Need to Understand That
Equity looks different depending on the situation, and it's not always straightforward. That can cause confusion.
15 min read
Images shows colorful speech bubbles that say "Q," "&," and "A."
iStock/Getty
Equity & Diversity What the Research Says New National Data Show Depth of Disparities in a Chaotic Year of Schooling
The first federal civil rights data released since the pandemic show that inequities persisted even when school buildings shut down.
10 min read
Tanya Holyfield, a second grade teacher with Manchester Academic Charter School, teaches remote students from her classroom on March 4, 2021, in Pittsburgh.
Tanya Holyfield, a 2nd grade teacher at Manchester Academic Charter School, teaches remote students from her classroom on March 4, 2021, in Pittsburgh. New federal data from the 2020-21 school year show that longstanding inequities among groups of students did not change much even in a year when many students spent all or part of the year in remote and hybrid learning.
Andrew Rus/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP
Equity & Diversity Opinion Am I Anti-Equity? You Decide
The push for equity has taken us into territory where "pro-equity" ideologues are doing destructive things in the education space.
5 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty