Does School Racial Composition Matter to Teachers: Examining Racial Differences in Teachers' Perceptions of Student Problems

SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://sagepub.com

Y

29

Teacher Attitudes; Racial Composition; Educational Environment; Racial Identification; Minority Group Teachers; Whites; Teacher Characteristics; Racial Differences; Elementary Secondary Education; Student Behavior; Behavior Problems; Gender Differences; Age Differences; Income; Academic Degrees; Teaching Experience; Professional Autonomy; Administrator Behavior; Job Satisfaction; African American Teachers; Hispanic Americans; African American Students; White Students; Hispanic American Students; Institutional Characteristics; Correlation

10.1177/0042085918770709

0042-0859

This study investigates how teachers' perceptions of student problems are affected by school-level student/teacher racial compositions. Utilizing the full spectrum of student/teacher racial compositions, results from nonlinear models show that students, regardless of their individual racial background, will be evaluated partially on the racial composition of the school they attend. This conclusion holds irrespective of individual teacher race, although teacher racial identity influences the extent to which school composition matters. Findings suggest that White, but not Black or Hispanic, teachers are affected by teacher racial composition when making judgments about the severity of student problems.

As Provided

2020

EJ1261759