When Race Matters: Teachers' Evaluations of Students' Classroom Behavior
Abstract
Past studies have noted that black students' classroom behavior is rated more favorably by black teachers than by white teachers. This pattern could be a function of white teachers' bias—rating black students more harshly than they deserve—or black students' misbehavior—acting out more when placed with white teachers versus black teachers. If explanations emphasizing black students' misbehavior (oppositional culture) are accurate, matching effects should be more substantial among adolescents than among young children. To assess this possibility, the authors estimated matching effects among kindergartners in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 and eighth graders from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988. They found that the effects of matching are comparable across both kindergartners and adolescents, a pattern that is more readily understood from the position of white teachers' bias than from that of oppositional culture.
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Black students' classroom behavior is rated more favorably by Black teachers than by White teachers.
“Notably, past studies, such as those by Downey and Pribesh (2004), have shown that Black students' classroom behavior is rated more favorably by Black teachers than by White teachers.”
From The Effects of Student–Teacher Ethnoracial Matching on Chronic Absenteeism: Exploring the Role of Relational Dynamics in Early Education (2025) · cites this paper as Downey and Pribesh (2004)
Cites
Black students' school success: Coping with the ?burden of ?acting white??
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Allison, P. (2002) · doi:10.4135/9781412985079 · Cited by 2,050 · see citing works
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Are Schools the Great Equalizer? Cognitive Inequality during the Summer Months and the School Year
Downey, D. B., von Hippel, P. T., & Broh, B. A. (2004) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.1177/000312240406900501 · Cited by 853 · see citing works
Self-citationRedding, C. (2019) · Review of Educational Research · doi:10.3102/0034654319853545 · Cited by 453 · see citing works
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Gerst, E. H., Cirino, P. T., Fletcher, J. M., & Yoshida, H. (2017) · Child Neuropsychology · doi:10.1080/09297049.2015.1120860 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
Sociodemographic Inequality in Early Literacy Development: The Role of Teacher Perceptual Accuracy
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Fostering Belonging, Transforming Schools: The Impact of Restorative Practices
Darling-Hammond, S. (2023) · Learning Policy Institute · doi:10.54300/169.703 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
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Eliminating the Racial Disparity in Classroom Exclusionary Discipline
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“Notably, past studies, such as those by Downey and Pribesh (2004), have shown that Black students’ classroom behavior is rated more favorably by Black teachers than by White teachers.”
- Authors
- Downey, D. B., & Pribesh, S.
- Affiliations
- The Ohio State University (US)
- Old Dominion University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Downey, Douglas B.
- Venue
- Sociology of Education
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2004-10
- Volume
- 77
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 267-282
- ISSN
- 0038-0407 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-8573
- OpenAlex
- W2104066909
- Cited by
- 531
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 41 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 38 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 39 · 2018: 38 · 2017: 26 · 2016: 41 · 2015: 24 · 2014: 28 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 40
- FWCI
- 20.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Sociology of Education (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Critical Race Theory in Education
- Social Sciences › Education › Education Discipline and Inequality
- Social Sciences › Education › School Choice and Performance
- Keywords
- classroom behavior, Black students, white teachers, matching effect, inappropriate behavior, oppositional culture, kindergarten children, adolescents
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