A Community College Instructor Like Me: Race and Ethnicity Interactions in the Classroom

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Keywords: minority, college, community college, affirmative action, diversity Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may Abstract:Administrative data from a large and diverse community college are used to examine if underrepresented minority students benefit from taking courses with underrepresented minority instructors. To identify racial interactions we estimate models that include both student and classroom fixed effects and focus on students with limited choice in courses. We find that the performance gap in terms of class dropout rates and grade performance between white and underrepresented minority students falls by 20 to 50 percent when taught by an underrepresented minority instructor. We also find these interactions affect longer term outcomes such as subsequent course selection, retention, and degree completion. Abstract: Administrative data from a large and diverse community college are used to examine if underrepresented minority students benefit from taking courses with underrepresented minority instructors. To identify racial interactions we estimate models that include both student and classroom fixed effects and focus on students with limited choice in courses. We find that the performance gap in terms of class dropout rates and grade performance between white and underrepresented minority students falls by 20 to 50 percent when taught by an underrepresented minority instructor. We also find these interactions affect longer term outcomes such as subsequent course selection, retention, and degree completion. * We are extremely grateful to Bob Barr, Andrew LaManque, Howard Irvin and Stephen Fletcher for providing the administrative data for students. Special thanks also go to Lydia Hearn, Kathleen Moberg, Mallory Newell, Jerry Rosenberg, and Rowena Tomaneng for providing detailed information on courses, minority student programs, and registration procedures. We also thank Alex Haslam, David Levine, Doug Miller, Uros Petronijevic, Daniel Shack and seminar participants at the University of Calgary, University of British Columbia, University of Manitoba, University of Victoria, the Gender and Academia Conference in Sweden, the NBER Education Program fall meeting, the Presidential and Academic Senate Leadership Presentation at De Anza College, Northern California Community Colleges Institutional Researchers workshop, Case Western University, University of Colorado Boulder, the 2013 American Economics Association annual meeting in San Diego, and RA...

Understanding the Racial Transfer Gap: Modeling Underrepresented Minority and Nonminority Students’ Pathways from Two-to Four-Year Institutions

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“…The author found significant increases for Black and White students in math and reading achievement. Similar positive effects of race congruence on achievement were found using fixed-effects models and administrative data sets in North Carolina (Clotfelter, Ladd, & Vigdor, 2007), Florida (Egalite et al, 2015), and an unnamed community college (Fairlie, Hoffmann, & Oreopoulos, 2011). In regard to sex congruence, Dee (2007) used a within-student identification strategy and found positive effects on achievement of having a same-sex teacher for eighth graders in the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88).…”

Variation Within the “New Latino Diaspora”

“…Indeed, the literature presents compelling evidence for the impacts that diversity among the faculty and administrators can have on URM students and the wider college community through mentorship, advising, recruitment, and culturally informed leadership, among other activities (Alger & Carrasco, 1997;Castellanos & Jones, 2003;Cole & Barber, 2003;Fairlie, Hoffmann, & Oreopoulos, 2011;Hagedorn, Chi, Cepeda, & McLain, 2007;Moody, 2004;Pascarella, Edison, Nora, Hagedorn, & Terenzini, 1996;Umbach, 2006;Urrieta & Méndez Benavídez, 2007). However, a holistic understanding of equity is inclusive of students, faculty, and administrators.…”