Do Students Perceive Their Teachers and Schools More Positively When More of Their Teachers Look Like Them?

Nine­ty per­cent of chil­dren in New Orleans pub­lic schools are peo­ple of col­or, but only 61% of teach­ers are peo­ple of col­or. A pre­vi­ous ERA-New Orleans study, based on a sur­vey of almost 4,000 stu­dents, found major dis­par­i­ties between how Black and White stu­dents in New Orleans rate their school cli­mates and teach­ers. Con­tin­u­ing on that research, Ali­ca Ger­ry and Lind­say Bell Weixler used sur­vey results and demo­graph­ic data from 19 schools to answer the ques­tion: Do New Orleans stu­dents rate their teach­ers, their school cli­mates, and their own aca­d­e­m­ic engage­ment more pos­i­tive­ly in schools with more teach­ers who are the same race, eth­nic­i­ty, or gen­der as them? Their key find­ings were: In schools that had a high­er per­cent­age of Black teach­ers, Black stu­dents rat­ed their school cli­mate and aca­d­e­m­ic engage­ment high­er. For exam­ple, they report­ed low­er lev­els of bul­ly­ing, fair­er dis­ci­pline, and more par­tic­i­pa­tion in school clubs and activ­i­ties. How­ev­er, hav­ing a high­er per­cent­age of Black teach­ers in a school was not asso­ci­at­ed with Black stu­dents rat­ing their teach­ers more high­ly. * In con­trast to the above find­ings for Black stu­dents, researchers did not find that sur­vey respons­es for White, His­pan­ic, male, or female stu­dents changed when they had more teach­ers that shared their demo­graph­ics. These results, tak­en with exist­ing research on the top­ic, sug­gest that New Orleans’ Black stu­dents ben­e­fit from hav­ing teach­ers who look like them. Local pol­i­cy­mak­ers and prac­ti­tion­ers should con­sid­er these poten­tial ben­e­fits when devel­op­ing poli­cies and strate­gies for teacher recruit­ment and reten­tion in New Orleans. The report is the first study from ERA-New Orleans’ new Research Snap­shot series, which fea­tures con­cise reports that answer ques­tions asked by either our Advi­so­ry Board or NOLA Pub­lic Schools. By launch­ing this series in part­ner­ship with the school dis­trict and local edu­ca­tion lead­ers, ERA-New Orleans has the oppor­tu­ni­ty to answer impact­ful ques­tions and quick­ly get answers that pol­i­cy­mak­ers can use to direct­ly help schools and stu­dents on the ground.

Related Publications

Will the Arts Come Marching In? Access to Arts Education in Post-Katrina New Orleans

Sep 15, 2020 | by Sarah Woodward

Increasing Access to Head Start Through Text Messages

Jun 23, 2020 | by Alica Gerry, Lindsay Bell Weixler, Jon Valant, Daphna Bassok, Justin B. Doromal

Voices of New Orleans Youth: What Do the City's Young People Think About Their Schools and Communities?

Jun 8, 2020 | by Lindsay Bell Weixler, Douglas N. Harris, Alica Gerry