Teacher-Student Racial Congruence and Civics Test Scores

• In Event: U.S. Education Systems and Anti-Black Racism

Abstract

Among the many examples supporting theories of bureaucratic representation are studies of teacher-student congruence in terms of gender (Giersch, Stearns, & Kropf, 2020) and race (Yarnell & Bohrnstedt, 2018). This strand of research is consistent in finding that sharing demographic characteristics between teachers and students is associated with improved student achievement.

We test for a positive effect of racial congruence on state achievement exams for a course on civics and economics in North Carolina over a period of five years: 2007 to 2011. Rather than finding an improvement in test scores when Black students learn from a Black teacher, we find a significant decline in achievement. In multilevel models accounting for clustering at the school level, we find test scores decline by between three and five points when a Black student is matched with a Black teacher in each of the five cohorts.

Further analysis, including the addition of controls for teacher quality and schools' social context as well as alternative outcome variables is currently in progress, but these preliminary results are difficult to explain. A better understanding of how racial congruence might affect achievement, even on a measure as narrow as a test score, is essential for designing policies that could close racial achievement gaps.

Giersch, J., Stearns, E., and Kropf, M. (2020). "Unequal Returns to Education: How Women Teachers Narrow the Gender Gap in Political Knowledge among Students." The Journal of Politics.

Yarnell, L. M., & Bohrnstedt, G. W. (2018). Student-teacher racial match and its association with Black student achievement: An exploration using multilevel structural equation modeling. American Educational Research Journal, 55(2), 287-324.

Authors

• Jason Giersch, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

• Elizabeth Stearns, UNC Charlotte

• Martha E. Kropf, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

• Roslyn Arlin Mickelson, University of North Carolina, Charlotte