By Kirsten West Savali
According to a new report, A Community College Instructor Like Me: Race and Ethnicity Interactions in the Classroom, 2.9 percent of students who identify as U.S. minorities—African-American, Native American, Hispanic and Pacific Islander—are more likely to excel if their teachers share their ethnic or racial background.
The report states:
“We find that the performance gap in terms of class dropout and pass rates between white and minority students falls by roughly half when taught by a minority instructor. In models that allow for a full set of ethnic and racial interactions between students and instructors, we find African-American students perform particularly better when taught by African-American instructors. … The class dropout rate relative to Whites is 6 percentage points lower for Black students when taught by a Black instructor. Conditional on completing the course, the relative fraction attaining a B-average or greater is 13 percentage points higher.”
What becomes clear is that the education gap between white students and students who identify as U.S. minorities, is a direct reflection of the gap between white teachers and teachers of color. According to the study’s authors, more research will have to be done to understand the depth of this correlation:
“Our results suggest that the academic achievement gap between white and underrepresented minority college students would decrease by hiring more minority instructors. Hiring more instructors of one type may also lead to greater student sorting and changes to classroom composition, which may also impact academic achievement. A more detailed understanding of heterogeneous effects from instructor assignment, therefore, is needed before drawing recommendations for improving overall outcomes. The topic is ripe for further research.”
© 2011 – 2012, BLC Staff Writer. All rights reserved.
As a former teacher working with various ethic groups, I feel that I did my best being Black and working with these groups. You have to entertain them with the lessons and demand respect. You are an adult and not their friend. While in the 9th grade I joined a after school group called On to Europe Club to learn about the european culture. We were not rich but I went to Europe when I was 15 and in the 9th grade. It was my sweet 16 gift instead of having a party. My parents gave me a choice and I am glad I had the sense to make the right choice. Getting my first passport at age 15. I was the only Black among 350 Canadian with 8 being American Caucasians.My problems was the treatment of the Caucasians students that went to Europe. My English teacher was Caucasian. She was older, nice and a traveler. That was years ago. Do I regret it no.
1. The study did not say that black kids can’t learn from white teachers. Black students learn a lot from white teachers.
2. No one would say that it’s racist that white kids learn from white teachers. I know a few brave, white teachers who have acknowledged that whites have advantages because they are part of the majority. It’s not racist to speak the truth.
3. If white teachers say they’re better teachers than Black teachers, THAT IS racist. There are bad minority teachers AND bad white teachers.
4. People like to believe that race doesn’t matter. It is not the most important factor, but it makes a difference.
5. Every study or discussion about race is not meant to be a threat.
6. Many white teachers avoid teaching about slavery, racism, segregation, or immigration. The kids start thinking their culture and history are irrelevant. Minority teachers discuss these issues honestly and openly; and this helps minority students develop the sense of pride and confidence they need to succeed.
@ gmoore2 I totally disagree with your comment.I didn’t think race played a role either until my child had a black teacher. I notice a big difference in my child test scores, his attitude, snd his overall performance. That following year he had a white teacher and he is now hating to even go to school. I dont think caucasians need to do this study because their kids are the ones that are out performing our black kids, so why bother doing a study.
I think that if a report came out that Caucasian kids learned more with white teachers, people would say we were being racist. As someone who has worked with children fromj all ethnic backgrounds for almost thirty years, I say it’s the teacher, NOT their ethnicity, that determines success.