Posted on 05/27/2009 6:41:58 AM PDT by decimon
A study forthcoming in the Journal of Labor Economics suggests that high-quality teachers tend to leave schools that experience inflows of black students. According to the study's author, C. Kirabo Jackson (Cornell University), this is the first study to show that a school's racial makeup may have a direct impact on the quality of its teachers.
"It's well established that schools with large minority populations tend to have lower quality teachers," Dr. Jackson said. "But it is unclear whether these schools are merely located in areas with a paucity of quality teachers, whether quality teachers avoid these schools because of the neighborhood or economic factors surrounding a school, or whether there is a direct relationship between student characteristics and teacher quality."
Dr. Jackson's findings suggest that it's not neighborhoods keeping high-quality teachers away; it's the students—and it's directly related to their race.
"This is particularly sobering because it implies that, all else equal, black students will systematically receive lower quality instruction," Jackson said. "This relationship may be a substantial contributor to the black-white achievement gap in American schools."
The study focused on the Charlotte-Mecklenberg school district in North Carolina. In 2002, the district ended its race-based busing program, which distributed the district's minority population across its schools. When the policy ended, some schools had a large and sudden inflow of black students. Since the racial makeup of the schools changed suddenly but the neighborhood and economic factors surrounding them stayed the same, Jackson could test the impact the student body itself had on teacher quality.
Using data supplied by the North Carolina Education Research Data Center, Jackson found that schools that had an increase in black enrollment suffered a decrease in their share of high-quality teachers, as measured by years of experience and certification test scores. Teacher effectiveness, as measured by teachers' previous ability to improve student test scores, decreased in the black inflow schools as well. The change in quality for each school generally occurred in the same year that the busing program ended, indicating that teachers moved in anticipation of more black students.
"This study implies teachers may prefer a student body that is more white and less black," Jackson says.
Black teachers were slightly more likely than white teachers to stay in the schools that experienced a black inflow, the study found. However, those black teachers who did leave black schools tended to be the highest qualified black teachers. So the decline in quality was somewhat more pronounced among black teachers than white teachers.
Just what it is about black students that pushes high-quality teachers away is hard to pin down, Dr. Jackson says. It could be that teachers are reacting to notions about black students' achievement or income levels.
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C. Kirabo Jackson, "Student Demographics, Teacher Sorting, and Teacher Quality: Evidence from the End of School Desegregation," Journal of Labor Economics 27:2.
Since 1983, the Journal of Labor Economics has presented international research that examines issues affecting the economy as well as social and private behavior. The Journal publishes both theoretical and applied research results relating to the U.S. and international data. And its contributors investigate various aspects of labor economics, including supply and demand of labor services, personnel economics, distribution of income, unions and collective bargaining, applied and policy issues in labor economics, and labor markets and demographics.
Captain Obvious - please pick up the white courtesy phone!
LOL Ya think? Gee, I wonder why?
Here’s a hypothesis. There are far fewer black students who have a father at home. This causes more behavioral problems and less academic ambition. Good teachers attempt to find classrooms with academically ambitious, well behaved kids.
Can’t promise that. Half my posting is done with him on my lap or circling the monitor.
Absolutely ignorant and clueless. Three days of teaching in real classrooms would tell the tale, yet the researchers are stumped! Willful ignorance because of political correctness.
Eighty percent, 80%, of black students are without real Dads. They arrive at school with almost internal discipline. It is a constant strenuous effort to maintain any discipline in such classes. It is the broken family that is the biggest factor, but race factors too.
Blacks are taught by cultural clues, constant and incessant that they are victims. The state of being a victims is intrinsically an irresponsible state. By cultural clues blacks are taught that irresponsible behaviors are "Black".
In such classrooms the teacher, any teacher, becomes exhausted or just a constant reactionary disciplinarian. In either case not much teaching gets done. Teachers with a pride in being able to teach with almost no exceptions leave to districts and schools where the students have self-discipline and the culture encourages such self-discipline.
What is the cure? Outlaw bastardy and start prosecuting it. Legalize drugs -- many fathers are jailbirds. Jail any man who fathers a child until he marries the mom.
Hire disciplinarians, not teachers. Behavior modifiers. The level of teaching doesn't require teachers in these schools -- but the students need to learn discipline. Most of the effort and school day must be spent teaching self-discipline, proper decorum in the classroom. Only when the student is capable of sitting at a desk for ninety minutes on task, without a single disruption is it useful to move them to real classrooms.
When should this start? Third grade!
I've subbed in a number of districts at all grade levels. This is what I saw, this is what I have learned, this is what I think is the only way to recover the our next generation.
“Teachers avoid combat zones, this shouldn’t be a mystery!”
I know. They act like it’s a big revelation that the teachers are actually concerned for their own safety!
AND who call you a white devil,
AND who attempt to stab you in the hallway with homemade stabbing implements.
I think they should do a study, take race out of the equation and see if there’s not some other factor or factors involved. I can tell you, as a teacher, I wanted first, a SAFE environment in which to teach, and after that came things like willing students, good discipline, a good administration, etc.
Well, I certainly don’t see this in my kids’ school...we have a mix of white, black, Hispanic, and Asian students, and it doesn’t seem to affect teacher performance...then again, it’s a PRIVATE school, and they actually make the students behave, and the parents back the teachers up.
Self control is not just a problem for “blacks”.
Look at ADULTS!
Look at some of these cop shows.
Yes, the criminals are not only dumb but more and more commit acts. Kids get ideas from this. They think it’s “cool” - especially if they can get away with it.
Blacks are often brought up to believe their “skin color” is what stops them from achieving. It doesn’t. They stop themselves because of their lack of SELF CONTROL.
I doubt it.
I can guess, but I'm not going there.
I think they should do a study, take race out of the equation
Really? That’s what the multicults and Marxist always insist we do. We have not been considering race for 50+ years unless of course it is to show how evil whitey is. How’s that working so far?
Can't find anything about how student attitudes and behavior in the classroom was factored into the study. Surely such a pertinent factor was not left out.
In our private school there appears to be an evolving standard based on skin color. As tuition goes up so does the problem. It's truly too bad the Principal doesn't’ get the idea that ONE STANDARD should be achievable by students of ANY skin color.
Middle and High School have different Principles and they have one standard for all. Maybe besides tuition they know this and flee. Who knows. I just know that it confuses the kids and creates a more antagonistic atmosphere.
Teachers avoid schools in which they are most likely to be stabbed, shot, assaulted etc. Gee, talk about shocking, huh?
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