Minority Student Achievement: Passive Representation and Social Context in Schools

Previous research indicates that the academic performance of minority students improves when school faculties include minority teachers. This research addresses this issue using data from some 540 school districts and 668 campuses in Texas. It finds that the greater the shortfall between the district/campus percentage of minority teachers and the district/campus percentage of minority students, the lower the percentage of district/campus minority students passing the state achievement test. When controls are entered for the rate of increase in minority student percentage, this association disappears for Hispanic students but not for African-American students.