Relationships Between Middle School Teachers’ and Students’ Ethnicities: A Multiyear Statewide Analysis

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Abstract

In this investigation, relationships between teacher ethnicity and student ethnicity in Texas public middle schools were examined. Through the Texas Education Agency Academic Excellence Indicator System, publicly available data on all public middle schools in Texas for the 1999-2000 through 2009-2010 school years were downloaded. Statistically significant, positive relationships with large effect sizes were yielded between teacher ethnic diversity (i.e., Hispanic, Black, and White) and student ethnic diversity (i.e., Hispanic, Black, and White, respectively) at Texas middle schools. As more Hispanic students were enrolled in a middle school, the tendency was present for more Hispanic teachers to be employed at that school. The same result was yielded for Black teachers and Black students and for White teachers and White students.

Authors

• Jamie A. Bone, Conroe Independent School District

• John R. Slate, Sam Houston State University

• Cynthia Martinez-Garcia, Sam Houston State University