The Impact of Teacher and Student Racial and Ethnic Matching on Student Outcomes: A Quantitative Study

This study aimed to investigate the predictive relationship of teacher race on student outcomes in New Jersey public schools, as measured by the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment (NJSLA), chronic absenteeism, and graduation rates. Specifically, the relationship between teacher and student race matching with Black students, the schoolwide population of students, and a subset of urban schools was examined. The study investigated the potential of race matching to address the problem of racial and ethnic student achievement gaps. Studies indicate that pairing students with teachers with whom they share the same race and ethnicity can lead to increased cultural understanding and stronger teacher–student relationships, which can positively impact school outcome measures (Redding, 2019). Race matching is defined as the congruence between the percentages of Black teachers and Black students in a particular school. Schoolwide data were used to create a race matching variable, which served as the main independent variable. A sample of 2,510 schools was used. The findings indicated that race matching had a statistically significant predictive relationship with student academic growth as measured using the NJSLA, chronic absenteeism and graduation rates for the schoolwide group of students, and graduation rates for the Black student group. The study also found that race matching had a statistically significant predictive relationship with student academic growth and chronic absenteeism in urban schools. The study\u27s findings are used to provide valuable hiring and policy recommendations intended to address racial and ethnic achievement gaps