To Get To College, It Helps Black Students To Have A Black Teacher Early On

Public education has a persistent and well-documented issue: the achievement gap between white students and students of color.

Researchers have studied disparities in areas such as test scores and discipline rates to identify ways to close the gap. But what if matching the race of a student and their teacher could contribute to a solution?

Black Teachers Matter

A recent study — part of a series of working papers published by the National Bureau of Economic Research — shows that having just one black teacher not only lowers black students’ high school dropout rates and increases their desire to go to college, but also can make them more likely to enroll in college.

According to the results, black students who have just one black teacher in elementary school are 13 percent more likely to enroll in college than their peers who didn’t have any black teachers. Students who have two black teachers are 32 percent more likely to go to college.

Continue reading this article on NPR Education.