Resources Available Online

Assessment of Diversity in America’s Teaching Force: A Call to Action

In a report by the National Collaborative on Diversity in the Teaching Force, researchers examined the relationship between educational achievement and teacher diversity, and found that increasing the percentage of minority teachers in the classrooms had a direct impact on closing the achievement gap of students. The report also sites several recommendations for policymakers that can improve the recruitment and retention of minority teachers in their schools. (2004)
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Examining Latino Paraeducators’ Interactions with Latino Students

This digest explores the effects of sociocultural factors on the relationships and interactions between Latino students and 32 Latino teachers and paraeducators. The study shows that Latino paraeducators helped expand students’ comprehension of the world, by forming close relationships with students and their families because they resided in the same community as the students and spoke the students’ native language. Moreover, they acted as bridges between the home lives of the students and their experiences in school and demonstrated much empathy and support for the students. (2005)
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Additional Resources

A Case Study of an African American Teacher's Self Efficacy, Stereotype Threat, and Persistence

The author describes a case study of how an African American female teacher utilized her cultural competence knowledge to provide more effective instruction to her students. This cultural competence knowledge is composed of a person's cultural and gendered understanding of their experiences and how that understanding alters their worldview. Reflection about this knowledge in turn influences their instructional planning and decision making. (2003)
Teaching and Teacher Education, 19(2), 263–76

The Racial Consciousness Attitudes of White Prospective Teachers and Their Perceptions of the Teachability of Students from Different Racial/Ethnic Backgrounds: Findings from a California Study

In this study, the author addresses the racial consciousness attitudes and identity of white prospective teachers and how they distinguish the teachability of ethnic minority students. The study reveals that prospective white teacher candidates, generally rated African American and Latino students as possessing lower cognitive skills than white and Asian Americans. (1996)
Journal of Negro Education, 65(2), 151–163

A Teacher Like Me: Does Race, Ethnicity or Gender Matter?

This study evaluates whether assignment to a demographically dissimilar teacher influences the teacher’s subjective evaluations of student behavior and performance. The article builds upon constructs that the racial, ethnic, and gender dynamics within classrooms (e.g., role-model effects, stereotype threat, teacher biases) are a significant determinant of student achievement. Findings from the study demonstrate that demographically dissimilar teachers possess judgmental views of their students. (2005)
Author: Dee, T. S.
American Economic Review, 95(2), 158–165