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One way to help low-performing students do better in school could be to put them in classrooms with teachers who share their race, a new study says.
The study, which will be released in the April issue of the Economics of Education Review, looks at how students’ test scores are impacted by the race of their teachers. Through analyzing Florida Department of Education data, researchers found that black, white and Asian/Pacific Island students do slightly better in school during years when they share their classroom educator’s race/ethnicity. Low-performing black and white students especially benefit from having teachers of their same race, the study says.
Researchers accessed the test scores of nearly 3 million Florida students between the 2001–02 and 2008-09 school years, as well as information about students’ and teachers’ races. They focused on students’ statewide test scores between the third through 10th grades. After accounting for factors such as teacher quality and student poverty level, the researchers found that black and white students have better reading scores when taught by teachers who look like them, and that black, white and Asian/Pacific Island students have higher math scores when taught by teachers who look like them.
The research adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that it is imperative to diversify the teacher workforce, which is overwhelmingly white, Anna Egalite, co-author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, told The Huffington Post.
