Using Multidimensional Measures to Advance Knowledge of Disparities in Teachers’ Perceptions

• In Event: 285 - Section on Race, Gender, and Class Paper Session. Intersectionality and Methods: Multidimensional and Multilevel Race, Gender, Ethnicity, and Class Data

Abstract

Scholarship on race and teachers’ perceptions has typically focused on conventional racial categories (white, black, Hispanic, Asian), overlooking important within racial/ethnic group heterogeneity. I address this gap by comparing teachers’ ratings of problem and learning behaviors across five conventional racial groups and across fourteen racialized subgroups at the intersections of race, ethnicity, and immigration, using a nationally representative sample of first grade students. Results show that black Americans—but not black immigrants—are rated more negatively by teachers for both learning and problem behaviors. I also find substantial ethnic and immigrant status variation for Asians, but for Latinos, I find that immigrant status is most influential. These results have important implications for understanding both between and within racial group gaps in academic achievement.

Author

• Yasmiyn Antonia Irizarry, University of Texas-Austin