Race and Teacher Evaluations as Predictors of Algebra Placement

Abstract

This study is a longitudinal look at the different mathematics placement profiles of Black students and White students from late elementary school through 8th grade. Results revealed that Black students had reduced odds of being placed in algebra by the time they entered 8th grade even after controlling for performance in mathematics. An important implication of this study is that placement recommendations must be monitored to ensure that high-achieving students are placed appropriately, regardless of racial background.

Less is more

“…Researchers in mathematics education, for example, have found that students’ scores on the standardized tests they take in the spring have a lot to do with the math classes they were placed into at the beginning of the school year. As we have found in previous research (Faulkner, Crossland, & Stiff, 2013; Faulkner et al, 2014), teachers’ subjective perceptions of students’ abilities can affect crucial placement decisions that, in turn, affect student opportunities to learn and, down the line, their standardized test outcomes. In short, by making judgment calls about where students belong, teachers may inadvertently create much of the gap that school leaders then implore them to close (Garrity, 2004; O’Connor, Lewis, & Mueller, 2007; Stiff, Johnson, & Akos, 2011)…”

Utilizing Multidimensional Measures of Race in Education Research

“…Yet, even at this early age, racial differences in teacher perceptions appear to reinforce dominant racial ideology, which may in turn fuel disparities in access to educational resources, academic placement decisions, and student discipline. Because teacher perceptions are more consequential for the educational experiences and outcomes of blacks (Faulkner et al 2014; Oates 2003), more negative perceptions directed toward black students (relative to white American students with similar social circumstances and academic skills sets) are likely to exacerbate black-white achievement gaps (McKnown and Weinstein 2008). These findings may also help scholars understand ethnic subgroup differences in attitudes toward schooling, academic performance, and persistence among Asian students (Goyette and Xie 1999; Kao 1995; Kao and Thompson 2003; Ngo and Lee 2007; Lee 2012; Lee 1994) and generational status differences in academic growth among Latinas/os (Reardon and Galindo 2009).…”

“…Although some identify schools as equalizers, because of the ways they assist in closing educational gaps between students from various sociodemographic backgrounds (Downey, Hippel, and Broh 2004), many scholars have documented how schools and their agents also reproduce racial hierarchies, often to the detriment of minority students (Condron 2007;Farkas 2003;Ford 1998;Morris 2005;Pianta, Steinberg, and Rollins 1995). One area where these hierarchies manifest is in teacher perceptions of students, which are associated with a number of important schooling experiences and outcomes, including the quality of teacher-student interaction (Brophy and Good 1970;Davis 2003;Hallinan 2008;Rist [1970] 2000; Rosenthal and Jacobson 1968), academic placement and performance (Alvidrez and Weinstein 1999;Faulkner et al 2014;Hamre and Pianta 2001;McCall, Evahn, and Kratzer 1992), and socioemotional development (Birch and Ladd 1997;Hughes, Cavell, and Wilson 2001;Ladd, Birch, and Buhs 1999;Pianta et al 1995). While most quantitative studies of race and teacher perceptions have focused on the black-white divide, a number of recent studies have extended this discourse to Asian and Latina/o students (Bates and Glick 2013;Jennings and DiPrete 2010;McGrady and Reynolds 2012;McKown and Weinstein 2008;Ready and Wright 2011).…”

Structural racism as the fundamental cause of the academic achievement gap

“…Given that teachers and other school personnel live in a racialized social structure which produces rampant anti-Black, the result is that Black students often face more negative evaluations compared to their White counterparts, even when their objective work habits, behaviors, and academic performance are identical (Davis, 2016;Glock & Klapproth, 2017;Irizarry, 2015;Ready & Wright, 2011). Such lower evaluations not only directly affect students through negative evaluations and lower grades but are also important factors in course and track placement decisions (Beattie, 2017;Faulkner, Stiff, Marshall, Nietfeld, & Crossland, 2014), which play important roles in shaping students educational trajectories (Riegle-Crumb & Grodsky, 2010).…”

“…For instance, Faulkner et al (2014) analyze ECLS-K data and show that Black students were less likely than their White counterparts to be placed in eighth-grade algebra, even after adjusting for actual mathematics performance, with high performing Black students being 40% less likely to be placed in algebra. Moreover, these authors find that teacher evaluations play a stronger role in the placement of Black students compared to White students.…”