Teacher-Student Racial Congruence, Teacher Perceptions, and Test Performance

Objective. This research explores the seldom-addressed question of whether teacherstudent racial congruence conditions the impact of teacher perceptions on performance. Methods. Multipopulation LISREL models (utilizing data from the NELS) compare the effect of white teachers’ perceptions on African-American standardized test performance to the corresponding effect among white students. Parallel models compare the impact of African-American teacher perceptions across races. Preliminary models gauge whether the match/mismatch of teacher’s and student’s race shapes teacher perceptions of African-American and white students. Results. The impact of teachers’ perceptions on test performance shows signs of being especially pronounced in the racially dissonant white teacher-black student context—the very context where teacher perceptions seem especially likely to be unfavorable. Conclusions. This research provides new insight on the relevance of teacher perceptions to the black-white performance gap. Racial congruence seems primarily consequential to African-American test performance—shaping both teacher perceptions and (somewhat less so) the impact of such perceptions on performance.