Do Good Teachers Leave When Black Students Enroll?
A recently released study that looks at the effects of an influx of African-American students into various schools within an urban North Carolina school district is raising some interesting questions about patterns of teacher movement.
The study by C. Kirabo Jackson, an associate professor of labor economics at Cornell University, shows that the highest quality teachers in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district left their schools after a long-running busing policy to promote integration was ended. Jackson's study, published in the Journal of Labor Economics, tracked the changes that occurred before and after the busing policy ended between 2002 and 2003. Because the racial makeup of the schools changed suddenly but the neighborhood and economic factors overall stayed the same, the research was able to focus directly on the impact the student body itself had on teacher quality.
"This is particularly sobering because it implies that, all else equal, black students will systematically receive lower-quality instruction," says Jackson. "This relationship may be a substantial contributor to the black-white achievement gap in American schools."
Using data from the North Carolina Education Research Data Center, Jackson found that schools that had an increase in black enrollment saw 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' ability to improve student test scores, also went down in the schools with an inflow of black students. The change in teacher quality generally occurred when the busing program ended, indicating that teachers moved in anticipation of more black students.
It is unclear whether the teacher-movement patterns in the 137,000-student Charlotte-Mecklenburg district would be typical of other large, urban school systems. A growing body of research does show that schools in low-income areas with high concentrations of minority students tend to have teachers who are considered, on average, to be of a lower quality than those in more affluent areas. And plenty of studies document how common it is for teachers to move from shaky, high-needs schools to better-performing suburban schools.
But it is almost impossible to pin down the reasons why some teachers stay away from, or leave, struggling schools. Is it out of convenience to be closer to their own suburban homes? Better pay? A desire to teach students from a particular background or of a particular ethnicity? In an interview with Education Week, Jackson says his study might offer a handle on those questions.
"An important implication of these findings is that policymakers should be cautious when advocating policies such as vouchers, school choice, district consolidation, or school busing that require the reshuffling of students across schools," the study concludes, because shifts in student population might lead to shifts in teacher quality.
Tags: North Carolina | public schools | education | education reform | K-12 education
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Truth will set world Free. Truth will set All free.
IQ has been used, tested and analized for 100-plus years now.
USA military uses IQ-based test.
All test, SAT, GRE, math, science, all test g: general intelligence factor.
IQ is normed at 100.
IQ 115 is high
IQ 85 is low.
Most test in 100-range.
15-gap between blacks and whites have been known for over 100-years now.
Truth will set worl Free.
Frank Hernandez
By the way, Mr. Hernandez, as I have requested before, please post these studies or at least post where I can locate them.
Reading the majority of these comments its easy to see the biases with which the "researchers" are embarking. You are in great company!!
If you read my previous, very long, post then you and I both have way too much time on our hands. My sarcastic humor is not meant to be disrepctful. Its just that Blacks get tired of the same old stuff.
Looking forward to your next post.
Frank Hernandez - Individuals exist within groups
I have a perfectly good understanding of rudimentary statistics. Newsflash!! Statistics are not real numbers.
My question is why do these "statistics" always seem to correspond with centuries old philosophies? For centuries Whites have asserted that Africans, as well as every other group, were intellectually inferior, way before any such plausible "studies" were performed. Due to an archaic legacy of discrimination, I am sure that a random sampling of American Blacks would yield less than desirable results than, say, a sampling of native Africans who perhaps may not have been as poisoned.
"Low intelligence" in American Blacks is not innate to the race but likely a result of low expectations. A simplistic example is taking a set of twins and from infancy instilling in one that he is stupid and worthless while affirming the other. Who will score better on an IQ test? Now imagine that those two children are a Black child and a White child. Intelligence is influenced by DNA but exposure and expectations makes a world of difference.
I am Jamaican and you will find that there are a higher percentage of highly educated Blacks in the islands and Africa than what you will find in America. The large percentage that migrate here are here for academic and professional reasons. Despite colonization, most of us have managed to develop a strong sense of who we are and our potential. Education is a goal taught from infancy. I daresay a random poll of Blacks from other places would yield much different results than those you came across. But those who are conducting the research have their own agenda and will not dare stray from that path. Doing so will probably cause them to question deeply held prejudices and beliefs. But you are the intelligence researcher so why not blaze a trail. I dare you.
Another group you may want to look at is the fast growing group of African American homeschoolers of which I am a part. Many of us have realized that the current education system is designed to "de-intellectualize" its children, particularly Black children. With the growth of this group, a random poll of Blacks in, lets say, 15-20 years will yield results that show that intelligence is not innate to race but is a result of many other factors.
My reasoning, though not buttressed by lofty statistics and science, is based on real life observation and relationships. Research does not speak with people but deals with the "human-animal".
According to statistics my sister and I should have been pregnant highschool dropouts and my brothers incarcerated (all but one college educated and all doing well!!) My parents, yes I am not a bastard, well, my mother should have been a single parent on welfare (oops, another stat. down the tubes). And what of my father the architecht? Hey how come no one polled us? A Black immigrant family of six. What do your statistics say about us? Please accept my humor.
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