Examining the Impact of Racial Congruence on Educator Well-Being

• In Event: Race-Conscious Practice and Representation in Contemporary Social and Emotional Learning

Abstract

There is a misalignment in the United States in the racial composition of students and teachers (NCES, 2018). The student population in the United States is less than 50% white, however the teacher population is over 80% white. This racial incongruence is disadvantageous for non-white students who benefit both socially and academically from having a teacher of the same race and who suffer from white teachers’ deficit thinking and white saviorism (Gershenson et al., 2018; Author et al., 2018). Although most prior research on racial congruence has focused on students, teachers benefit from racial congruence as well. Studies have found that teachers in racially congruent classrooms and/or schools are more collegial with staff, have higher job satisfaction, and less attrition (e.g., Fairchild et al., 2012). However, research on the impact of racial congruence on teachers is relatively scant. It is important to consider the impact of racial congruence on teachers because teachers at schools with high percentages of minority students often experience higher dissatisfaction and turnover, thus resulting in decreases in student achievement and increases in student behavior issues.

The sample of the present study consisted of 3,340 teachers from around the United States (see Table 1 for sample demographics). Teachers were coded as either white or non-white. The schools in which they taught were coded as white if their student population was greater than 50% white and non-white if their student population was greater than 50% non-white. We identified four groups of teachers. In group 1 (n = 1,422) were white teachers in predominantly white schools; group 2 (n = 759) were white teachers in predominantly non-white schools; group 3 (n = 128) consisted of non-white teachers in predominantly white schools; group 4 (n = 567) contained non-white teachers in non-white schools. We then dummy coded group membership using group 1 (white teachers in white schools) as the reference category and conducted a structural equation model to determine how group membership impacted teachers’ well-being (as measured by emotional exhaustion, personal accomplishment, and job satisfaction), while controlling for student socioeconomic status. We found acceptable model fit for all three models and, overall, group membership significantly predicted all three outcomes (see Tables 2 and 3). Specifically, being a white teacher in a non-white school predicted slightly emotional exhaustion than being a white teacher in a white school, however it also predicted less job satisfaction and less personal accomplishment. Being a non-white teacher in a white school predicted slightly more emotional exhaustion, but slightly more job satisfaction and personal accomplishment. Finally, being a non-white teacher in a non-white school was predictive of higher levels of emotional exhaustion, but also higher levels of personal accomplishment and job satisfaction, as compared to white teachers in white schools.

These findings indicate that there is a need for greater support for non-white teachers regardless of school demographics, and for teachers in non-white schools regardless of teacher race. Future research will examine this relationship longitudinally and will aim to disentangle the influence of teacher race and school-level racial demographics on teachers’ overall well-being.

Authors

• Annette Ponnock

• James Floman, Yale University