Ethnic Matching, School Placement, and Mathematics Achievement of African American Students From Kindergarten Through Fifth Grade

Abstract

Educators, administrators, and policymakers focus much attention on closing the achievement gap, and various approaches have been suggested. The present study focuses on one approach being suggested: student–teacher ethnic matching. The study focused on the long-term contributions of African American ethnic matching to mathematical test scores of 1,200 African American students from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Kindergarten—fifth data set. Employing a two-level growth model, this study of impact from student–teacher ethnic matching revealed that a student having at least one teacher who ethnically matched themselves between kindergarten and fifth grade had a significant impact on mathematics achievement.