Teachers’ perceptions and expectations and the black-white test score gap
Abstract
Scholars have documented that Black students enter kindergarten with weaker reading skills than their White counterparts and that this disparity sometimes persists through secondary school. This Black-White performance gap is even more evident when comparing students whose parents have equal years of schooling. This article evaluates how schools can positively affect this disparity by examining two potential sources for this difference: teachers and students. It provides evidence for the proposition that teachers' perceptions, expectations, and behaviors interact with students' beliefs, behaviors, and work habits in ways that help to perpetuate the Black-White test score gap.
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Teachers who stigmatize certain types of students may modify how they teach, evaluate, and advise them, again leading to poor educational outcomes for stigmatized students.
“Finally, teachers who stigmatize certain types of students may modify how they teach, evaluate, and advise them, again leading to poor educational outcomes for stigmatized students (Ferguson, 2003).”
From Who believes in me? The effect of student–teacher demographic match on teacher expectations (2016) · cites this paper as Ferguson, 2003
Stigmatized students may modify their expectations, and in turn their behavior, to conform to teachers' negative biases.
“Second, stigmatized students may modify their expectations, and in turn their behavior, to conform to teachers' negative biases (Ferguson, 2003).”
From Who believes in me? The effect of student–teacher demographic match on teacher expectations (2016) · cites this paper as Ferguson, 2003
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“experiments in which IQ or a similar measure of ability was the outcome, Raudenbush (1984) showed very clearly that studies finding evidence of the effect were primarily those where teachers had no opportunity to form an independent impression of students before the”
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- Authors
- Ferguson, R. F.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Ferguson, Ronald F.
- Venue
- Urban Education
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2003-07
- Volume
- 38
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 460-507
- ISSN
- 0042-0859 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-8340
- OpenAlex
- W2115163516
- Cited by
- 886
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 43 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 33 · 2020: 43 · 2019: 40 · 2018: 37 · 2017: 34 · 2016: 62 · 2015: 48 · 2014: 47 · 2013: 44 · 2012: 53
- FWCI
- 129.07
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Urban Education (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Critical Race Theory in Education
- Social Sciences › Education › School Choice and Performance
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Education, Achievement, and Giftedness
- Keywords
- Black-White test score gap, teacher expectations, teacher perceptions, student beliefs, work habits, racial achievement gap, early reading skills, teacher-student relationship
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