Progressive One

Filed in Research & Studies on May 23, 2016

children-progress-in-our-schoolsResearchers at Indiana University and Vanderbilt University in Nashville recently published a study that found that African American children with Black elementary school teachers were three times as likely to identified for gifted education programs than African American children with White elementary school teachers.

The research also found that Black students are 54 percent less likely to identified as eligible for gifted education programs than White students even after adjusting for differences in standardized test scores, demographic factors and school and teacher characteristics.

Th authors conclude that there is “some evidence that the classroom teacher effect is partially driven by teachers’ more positive views of own-race students.”

The study, “Disentangling the Causal Mechanisms of Representative Bureaucracy: Evidence From Assignment of Students to Gifted Programs,” was published on the website of the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. It may be accessed here.


Disentangling the Causal Mechanisms of Representative Bureaucracy: Evidence From Assignment of Students to Gifted Programs

Sean Nicholson-Crotty*,
Jason A. Grissom†,
Jill Nicholson-Crotty* and
Christopher Redding†

Author Affiliations
*Indiana University;
†Vanderbilt University
Address correspondence to the author at seanicho@indiana.edu.


Abstract

Scholars have suggested that the benefits of representative bureaucracy arise from bureaucrats acting in the interests of clients who share their characteristics, increased diversity encouraging even nonminority bureaucrats work to further the interests of minority clients, and/or the actions of clients that are more responsive to bureaucrats that share their characteristics. Despite decades of research, the literature has been unable to empirically disentangle these mechanisms, primarily because the vast majority of studies examine only organization-level data, and, at the aggregate level, they all produce identical findings. In contrast, this study makes use of data that allows us to observe the behavior of individual clients and bureaucrats, as well as the aggregate characteristics of the organizations in which they interact. Specifically, we make use of student-level data to predict differences in the probability that an elementary student is referred to gifted services by race. Our results suggest that black students are more likely to be referred to gifted services when taught by a black teacher but that increased presence of black teachers in the school other than the classroom teacher has little effect. We find some evidence that the classroom teacher effect is partially driven by teachers’ more positive views of own-race students. Our results do not suggest, however, that the positive impact of teacher-student race congruence on gifted assignment can be explained by differences in student test score performance or increased parental interaction with the teacher.
© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Inc. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Cool Breeze

The truly free thinking black kids born of culturally decadent parents will have his genius beat of of him or incarcerated.

nwtk2007 Loc: Texas

So, your take on this in one sentence, or less.

Progressive One

White teachers usually impart lowered expectations on black kids. What is your take in one sentence or less?

Progressive One

Yep....the opposite was true with me growing up in integrated schools. They always tried to channel black kids into vocational and lower paying professions but my parents had told me to start preparing for college at 13. Start by studying the Occupational handbook and the US Book of Colleges and Universities. One describes what careers are and the other describes where to go study for them. None of the 5 of us were ever allowed to see counselors for that very reason.

nwtk2007 Loc: Texas

Since the students are referred subjectively, the black teachers favored the black kids. The very thing black pen say about white teachers and white kids.

Progressive One

That is not one sentence or less like you asked me. It also stated what was true when test scores and all were adjusted for.

Cool Breeze

I grew up in the South where ignorance was placed on a pedestal and rewarded when exhibited by b****s thus the phrase. You're in school to "learn" and not question the teacher. The ideal was that you attend school. They could care less about the quality of what was being taught.

Progressive One

Yep, that Gulf Coast area of Texas was considered the southwest and was very progressive in my day. My high school was highly ranked, became a football powerhouse many years later, experienced white flight when the numbers of people of color became over 50% (was 50/50 previously) and is now being absorbed into another school district. Many of the kids go to the other school which is much better (Texas City) but many upscale black people have moved to Houston suburbs and send their kids to school there.

Progressive One

yeah, I have friends from the real south (Georgia) and they say the same thing you just did.

karpenter Loc: Headin' Fer Da Hills !!

Segregation ?

Progressive One

I would like the courtesy of the same type of answer you requested from me.

Cool Breeze

I defied them and will continue to do so. Damn the Cost!

Progressive One

You're supposed to. Some people don't want b****s to have s**t, no matter if we even work harder than them!!

nwtk2007 Loc: Texas

Sorry. But, how do you know that. These student were referred. They didn't qualify.