Data Set: Civil Rights Data Collection (https://civilrightsdata.ed.gov/)
Supporting Data Set: NCES Teachers’ Race/Ethnicity
Research Questions: Does representation—specifically, racial representation—in instructor hiring impact students’ performance? What is the correlation between demographics of the student body and staff/faculty?
Sources Overview
Annotated Bibliography
Benner, A. D., Boyle, A. E., & Bakhtiari, F. (2017). “Understanding Students’ Transition to High School: Demographic Variation and the Role of Supportive Relationships.” Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 46(10), 2129–2142. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-017-0716-2.
The authors of this article talked to 252 students making a transition into high school to track their emotional and academic development, and tried to take note of which provisions were most helpful in keeping their transition period smooth. They importantly found that school belonging was a key factor in combating grade-drops, isolation, and even symptoms of depression among the young high school students. For the purposes of our paper, it is important that we have a strong connection in our argument between the sense of belonging that representative teaching staff has with the actual academic and personal outcomes for students, which this study provides.
Bruno, P., & Strunk K. O. (2019) “Making the Cut: The Effectiveness of Teacher Screening and Hiring in the Los Angeles Unified School District.” (n.d.). https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373719865561.
The authors of this article looked at the screening methods of evaluating prospective teachers in Los Angeles Unified School District. It is important because they found that the screening assessments of the teachers were often accurately predictive of the later success of those teachers they started teaching. We could use this in two ways: first, we are looking into doing a specific geographic case study if we can find data on it on some local Los Angeles schools and how we see student/teacher demographics play out for them. Second, because our project ultimately makes an argument about the results of the hiring process of teachers, it is important to have a source with data on how that’s done and what important screening steps are.
Cherng, Hua-Yu Sebastian, and Peter F. Halpin. “The Importance of Minority Teachers: Student Perceptions of Minority Versus White Teachers.” Educational Researcher, vol. 45, no. 7, 2016, pp. 407–20. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43997757.
This source presents a report on a 2016 secondary study utilizing the Measures of Effective Teaching database. Its aim is to delve into how students perceive minority teachers in contrast to their white counterparts. The report highlights that the majority of the United States’ public school student body consists of racial or ethnic minorities, whereas less than 20% of teachers fall into this category. Understanding the implications of this disparity is crucial for grasping its potential impact on student-teacher relationships and behaviors. Our project seeks to explore how the underrepresentation of minorities among a student’s teacher population can shape their academic experiences. Given the established connection between students’ perceptions of their teachers and their academic performance, we can utilize the insights from this report to understand trends in our data regarding student and teacher demographics.
Dee, Thomas S. “A Teacher like Me: Does Race, Ethnicity, or Gender Matter?” The American Economic Review, vol. 95, no. 2, 2005, pp. 158–65. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4132809. Accessed 16 Feb. 2024.
The authors of the article looked at how two demographically different teachers evaluated the same student. This research is important because it showed that racial, ethnic, and gender dynamics have large effects on teacher perceptions of student performance. This is important to our research because we want to find correlations between the demographics of teachers and students and student success. With this article looking into teacher perceptions of students and not just student results, we can add another layer into our project by looking into how the interactions between teachers and students impact student success.
Egalite, Anna J., et al. “Representation in the Classroom: The Effect of Own-Race Teachers on Student Achievement.” Economics of Education Review, vol. 45, 2015, pp. 44–52, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2015.01.007.
This article explores whether there is a correlation between students having teachers of the same race and their resulting academic achievement. Importantly, the authors examine data of nearly 3 million Florida public school students in grades three through ten between 2001 and 2009, concluding that own-race teachers improve reading achievement for black and white students, as well as math achievement for black, white, and Asian/Pacific Island students. This source is relevant to our project because we can apply a similar data cleaning/analysis process to our data, as well as use the data the authors used in this article to examine Florida in particular for a case study. Moreover, this source lists several past studies related to race and representation in education, as well as what the authors considered or forgot to consider, so we can do further reading into some of the provided sources and do further research on areas that were lacking.
Goldhaber, Dan, et al. “Why We Need a Diverse Teacher Workforce.” The Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 100, no. 5, 2019, pp. 25–30. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26614877.
In this article, the authors explore the diversification of the teaching force, examining both theoretical arguments and empirical evidence regarding the potential impact of this shift on students of color. They uncover that teacher demographic matching appears to exert a greater influence on student academic success than higher National Board credential test scores. This source holds significance as it adopts an unbiased standpoint, addressing not only the potential positive outcomes but also the possible challenges associated with proactively increasing teacher diversity. We can leverage this source to gain a critical understanding of the teacher role-modeling effect and contemplate potential unforeseen consequences.
Gottfried, M., Kirksey, J. J., & Fletcher, T. L. (2022). “Do High School Students With a
Same-Race Teacher Attend Class More Often?” Educational Evaluation and Policy
Analysis, 44(1), 149-169. https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737211032241.
This article used secondary data between 2013 and 2017 to explore whether there is a correlation between high school students’ absenteeism and the matching students-teachers race. The article examine the outcomes such as look at students’ daily period absence log and students teachers demographic, and student characteristics such as free or reduced-priced lunch status, English learner status, special education status, migrant status, and GPA, which the results shows that lower absence in school for Latinx students when they have match race teachers. This resource answers our research question whether teachers’ demographics impact students’ success. There are significant connections and expectations when students have same race support in the classroom.
Grissom, Jason A., et al. “Teacher and principal diversity and the representation of students of color in gifted programs: Evidence from National Data.” The Elementary School Journal, vol. 117, no. 3, Mar. 2017, pp. 396–422, https://doi.org/10.1086/690274.
Relying on bureaucratic representation theory, this article discusses the many steps to qualify for gifted programs and explores how principals have the power to influence representation in gifted programs and whether the race of teachers has a significant effect on students being placed in a gifted program. This source is important because it examines government-collected data about students from both 2004 and 2012 to conclude that increased representation among faculty and leadership is positively associated with gifted participation of Black and Hispanic students, offering a glimpse at two different instances in time and thus improving credibility. The authors were also very aware of different possible confounding variables, taking measures to avoid drawing conclusions with such, so this would be a useful source for us to reference in our project. Also, this article considers the same Office for Civil Rights dataset we are using, so it will be helpful to see how they used the data and what gaps we can fill in.
Harbatkin, E. (2021). “Does student-teacher race match affect course grades?” Economics of
Education Review, 81, 102081. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2021.102081.
The author of this article conducted a quasi-experimental study and used the North Carolina administrative data over three school years from 2014-15 through 2016-17. This article exploring the extent to which teacher/student race matching affects teacher assessment of student knowledge, as measured by course grades, is examined. Additionally, the statement explores how this effect is moderate by the race of the students. There is a significant impact on most students having race-matched teachers have higher course grades in general. However, it also acknowledges there are limitations regarding grading bias that same race teachers give higher grades to the same race students.
Holt, Stephen, and Seth Gershenson. “The Impact of Teacher Demographic Representation on Student Attendance and Suspensions.” SSRN Electronic Journal, IZA Discussion Paper No. 9554, 2015, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2708367.
This article applies the ideas of representative bureaucracy theory to examine absences and suspensions among primary public school students in North Carolina between 2006 and 2010. The research performed here is important because it concludes that students, especially non-white male students, experiencing a racial mismatch with their instructor are more likely to be absent or suspended at least once. This article is useful to us because it provides both a literature review of relevant studies that we can examine in depth to gain a more comprehensive understanding, and thorough research on absences and suspensions—two dimensions that few other sources examined. It also provides several explanations for trends observed, which will help inform our conclusions.
Lindsay, C. A., & Hart, C. M. D. (2017). “Exposure to Same-Race Teachers and Student
Disciplinary Outcomes for Black Students in North Carolina.” Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 39(3), 485-510. https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373717693109.
The author of this article analyzed administrative data from North Carolina spanning the school years 2007-2008 through 2012-2013. The resource is important because they investigated the potential connection between student disciplinary outcomes for Black students and their exposure to teachers of the same race. The result suggested that compared to when black students have race-matched teachers would enforce more exclusionary discipline on black students which Indicating that the outcomes are influenced by the discretionary decisions made by teachers. We could look for the state of North Carolina 2007-2008 through 2012-2013 data from the Civil Rights data set. More specifically, we could look at students’ enrollment in these years, to see whether there is a relationship between race-matched teachers that affects students’ willingness to attend schools.
Madkins, Tia C. “The Black Teacher Shortage: A Literature Review of Historical and Contemporary Trends.” The Journal of Negro Education, vol. 80, no. 3, 2011, pp. 417–27. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41341143. Accessed 16 Feb. 2024.
This literature review synthesizes relevant research into understanding factors influencing the present number of Black teachers and how to increase that number using alternative certification routes. This is important because Black students comprise 16% of the student body, while Black teachers account for 8% of the teacher body, which leads to students not feeling represented. This resource helps our project because it helps us understand why there are differences in demographics between students and teachers and possible solutions to increase the number of Black teachers in the workforce through the alternative programs that are developing. This resource was published in 2011, so through our data analysis, we can see if these alternative programs have made significant impact. Further, it is something we can add to our timeline when discussing the efforts made to increase minority representation in teachers.
Straubhaar, R. (2015). “The stark reality of the ‘White Saviour’ complex and the need for critical consciousness: A document analysis of the early journals of a Freirean educator.” Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 45(3), 381–400. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2013.876306.
This article is actually something of a self-critical reflective account of the pitfalls of even a very qualified educator going into a community that is very far from his own with the best of intentions. It is important because it demonstrates many of the pitfalls facing those who fail to account for their privilege, race, or status when educating in a community they are not native to. It is even doubly important because it was published by a researcher at the best university in the world: UCLA. Our project relies on explaining why it might be dangerous to fail to let people be educated by those native to their neighborhoods who can share their experiences, and this individual account of those pitfalls is a valuable voice to add to that discussion.
Winters, Marcus A., et al. “The effect of same-gender teacher assignment on Student Achievement in the Elementary and secondary grades: Evidence from panel data.” Economics of Education Review, vol. 34, June 2013, pp. 69–75, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2013.01.007.
The researchers in this article explore the relationship between same-gender teacher assignment and how that impacts student achievement by following public school students in Florida over a period of five years. Same-gender teachers could serve as role models by helping students think positively about their own potential. What was found was that male and female students benefit from having a female teacher, but female students benefit even more. This is important to our research because in addition to racial demographics, we also would look into how gender dynamics may impact students, if time permits. It would allow for us to look at the data through both gender and race.
Wright, Adam, et al. “A Kindergarten Teacher Like Me: The Role of Student-Teacher Race in Social-Emotional Development.” American Educational Research Journal, vol. 54, 2017, pp. 78S-101S. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44245413.
The authors utilized the NCES Early Childhood Longitudinal Study from the Kindergarten class of 2010-2011 to contribute to the discourse on student-teacher race matching, particularly in the Kindergarten setting. Unlike previous studies that primarily focused on academic outcomes, they examined shifts in internalized and externalized behaviors when students of color, particularly Black and Latino children, were taught by teachers of the same racial background. Addressing social-emotional environments for developing children is crucial, as it not only impacts their current well-being but also predicts future outcomes in terms of academics and behavior, thereby influencing their long-term prospects. This research complements our own by providing a multi-dimensional perspective on the student. By understanding how a lack of diversity between students and teachers might affect children beyond academic performance, we gain a more holistic view of students beyond their scholarly achievements.
Leave a Reply