Student-Teacher Race Congruence: New Evidence and Insight From Tennessee

Abstract

Our work aims to substantiate and extend earlier findings on the effects of student-teacher race matching on academic achievement using longitudinal data for students in Grades 3 through 8 in Tennessee. We examine heterogenous effects not only by racial subgroup and student preparedness, as explored in prior literature, but also by levels of teacher effectiveness, drawing on data from the state's teacher evaluation system. We find that student-teacher race congruence does not have a significant overall effect on test scores. However, subgroup analyses reveal a positive, significant race-match effect in elementary school math. We observe meaningful effects for Black students in both reading and math, race-matched students in the bottom-most preparedness quartile in math, and race-matched students assigned to teachers in the middle two teacher performance quartiles in math. Our results align with prior findings, emphasizing that race-match effects transcend state borders. Findings support policy efforts to diversify the educator labor force.

A Teacher Like Me: A Review of the Effect of Student–Teacher Racial/Ethnic Matching on Teacher Perceptions of Students and Student Academic and Behavioral Outcomes

“…At the same time, studies of high school teachers' expectations for future academic attainment and students' persistence in high school suggests that student responsiveness to also be an important factor (Fox, 2016;Gershenson et al, 2016;. Joshi, Doan, and Springer (2018) come to similar conclusion by examining how students differentially benefit from assignment to a same-race teacher, depending on the measured quality of the teacher.…”

Enhancing Teacher Self-Efficacy in Multicultural Classrooms and School Climate: The Role of Professional Development in Multicultural Education in the United States and South Korea

“…According to a recent report, the number of students hailing from an immigrant background has increased more than threefold—from about 38,000 in 2012 to about 137,000 in 2018, which accounts for roughly 3% of the student population (Korean Ministry of Education, 2019). Despite the rapid increase in diversity among students, the Korean teaching force—similar to the United States—has been predominantly monoracial, monocultural, and monolingual while the lack of diversity among teachers may result in the cultural discontinuity between teachers and students (Joshi et al, 2018; C. S. Lee, 2016; Redding & Baker, 2019).…”

Understanding Racial/Ethnic Diversity Gaps Among Early Career Teachers

“…A wAve of recent literature attests to the unique educational contributions extended to students when assigned to a teacher of one's own race or ethnicity. Being assigned to a same-race teacher is linked with more positive teacher perceptions of students (Dee, 2005;Fox, 2016;Gershenson, Holt, & Papageorge, 2016;McGrady & Reynolds, 2013;Ouazad, 2014) as well as student outcomes as varied as attendance (Holt & Gershenson, 2015), disciplinary infractions (Lindsay & Hart, 2017), assignment to gifted and talented programs (Grissom & Redding, 2016), and student achievement (Dee, 2004;Egalite, Kisida, & Winters, 2015;Joshi, Doan, & Springer, 2018;Yarnell & Bohrnstedt, 2018). The benefits of racial congruence are particularly pronounced for Black students (e.g., Fox, 2016;Grissom & Redding, 2016), a point underscored by a recent study by Gershenson, Hart, Lindsay, and Papageorge (2017) that finds long-lasting benefits for Black students in terms of graduating from high school.…”