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Informal "teacher talk" about students is ubiquitous, but it remains largely unexamined. This study critically examines casual, everyday teacher discourse about students perceived to be racially or culturally "different." Data were collected through participants' journal entries, group discussion, and interviews. Findings revealed three dominant deficit-based discursive themes embedded in informal teacher talk about students of color. I argue for the need to heighten educators' critical awareness of deficit discourse and its relationship to teaching, learning, and issues of equity. This article will likely be of interest to educational administration faculty, teacher educators, K-12 educators, and those studying school culture.

We present a case analysis of the controversy and public debate generated from a school district’s efforts to address racial inequities in educational outcomes by diverting special funds from the highest performing students seeking elite college admissions to the lowest performing students who were struggling to graduate from high school. Widespread arguments against the proposed change emphasized the identification of highly successful students as “worthy” and others as “unworthy” of resources. Through an analysis of print and digital public texts, we identify a narrative cycle that informed public debate: (a) colorblind rhetoric, (b) academic performance is presumed to emerge solely from talent and effort, so (c) academic performance then becomes a measure of worth, and finally, (d) efforts to address racial disparities are “unfair.” We argue that narratives identifying some students as worthy and others unworthy are highly influential in the outcomes of many educational policy and funding debates.

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