Going Beyond Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic: The Effects of Teacher Representation on Teen Pregnancy Rates

Research in the field of representative bureaucracy provides evidence that the presence of minority and female bureaucrats can improve outcomes for minority and female clients of an agency. However, the previous work has almost exclusively connected the benefits of representation to outcomes directly linked to the primary purpose of the organization. We contend that there may be additional benefits linked to bureaucratic representation that are beyond the mission of the agency. To test this contention, we examine whether the presence of minority and female teachers can improve outcomes, beyond educational measures, for female students. Specifically, using data from Georgia public schools, we test whether the presence of minority and female teachers lowers teen pregnancy rates. We find that as the representation of African-American teachers reaches the tipping point (around 20%) we see a significant reduction in the African-American teen pregnancy rate.