Teacher Race, Child Race, Racial Congruence, and Teacher Ratings of Children's School Adjustment

Pergamon

Journal of School Psychology, Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 177–196, 2000 Copyright  2000 Society for the Study of School Psychology Printed in the USA 0022-4405/00 $–see front matter

PII S0022-4405(99)00041-2

Teacher Race, Child Race, Racial Congruence, and Teacher Ratings of Children’s School Adjustment Rowan L. Pigott and Emory L. Cowen University of Rochester This study examined the effects of teacher race, pupil race, and teacher–child racial congruence on teacher ratings of the school adjustment of 445 kindergarten through fifth-grade children from 70 classrooms in 24 racially mixed urban schools. Most classrooms yielded 8 child participants: 4 African American and 4 White, with 2 boys and 2 girls per group. The two race groups were closely matched by school, grade level, teacher, and socioeconomic status. Ratings were provided by 26 African American and 44 White teachers, matched by age and years of experience. African American children were judged by both African American and White teachers to have more serious school adjustment problems, fewer competencies, more stereotypically negative qualities, and poorer future educational prognoses than White children. The relation between stereotypic teacher views and other adjustment indicators was consistently higher for African American children than for White children. African American teachers, compared to White teachers, rated all children as having more competencies and fewer problems, and had more positive academic expectations for all children. No significant teacher race ⫻ student race interactions were found.  2000 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd Keywords: Teacher race, Child race, Child adjustment, Inner city schools.

Teacher ratings typically indicate that African American children have more behavior problems and poorer academic performance than White children (Dauber, Alexander, & Entwisle, 1993; DeMeis & Turner, 1977; Horwitz, Bility, Plichta, Leaf, & Haynes, 1998; Lindholm, Touliatos, & Rich, 1978). These differences increase with time (Spivack & Swift, 1977); indeed, by seventh grade, African American children were judged to have twice as many behavior problems as White children (Kelly, Bullock, & Dykes, 1977). With closely matched race samples—something that many prior studies have lacked—this study’s main purpose was to assess the roles that child race, teacher race, and teacher–child racial congruence play in teacher ratings of children’s school adjustment and performance (Ogbu, 1988; 1995). Received August 7, 1998; accepted May 17, 1999. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Emory L. Cowen, Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, University of Rochester, 575 Mt. Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620. Phone: (716) 273-5957.

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Studies of teacher ratings of the adjustment of African American and White children have not often reflected teacher race—a variable that may shape teacher views of children’s adjustment and teachability (Gerber & Semmel, 1984) and tolerance of difficult behaviors (Bowditch, 1993; Feshbach, 1969). The present study reflects this variable and also explores how teacher–pupil racial congruence affects the school adjustment ratings of African American and White teachers, on the assumption that racial match enhances understanding of children and results in greater acceptance of their behavior (McLoyd, 1998). The article also considers prior studies of (a) school adjustment differences between racial groups, (b) the influence of teacher and student race on teacher ratings of children’s adjustment, (c) stereotypic views of African Americans, (d) teacher expectations for students, and (e) inconsistent findings in prior studies comparing the adjustment of African American and White children. Adjustment and Academic Differences Between Racial Groups The academic orientation and school behaviors of most African American children are affected by powerful socioenvironmental factors, such as poverty, exposure to chronic stress, and racism. African Americans have less education than Whites, more unemployment and less attractive jobs, and less adequate housing often located in high-crime neighborhoods (McLoyd, 1998; Ogbu, 1997). Those realities make African American families reluctant to discourage assertive or aggressive child behaviors that have adaptive value in the community, even if those behaviors make for problems in school (McLoyd, 1998). Moreover, White middle-class teachers may rate African American children as less well-adjusted because their backgrounds limit understanding and predispose stereotypic views of them (Gomez, 1993; McIntyre & Pernell, 1985). Because the natural styles of African Americans may involve behaviors (Hale-Benson, 1986), language use (McGinnis & Smitherman, 1978), learning patterns, activity levels, ways of dressing, and family dynamics that elicit value judgments, teacher ratings of child behavior may be context-related and best understood from a sociocultural perspective (Hale-Benson, 1989; Hilliard, 1992). Consistent with this view, Byers and Byers (1972) found that White elementary students got more attention from teachers (e.g., eye-gazes, nonverbal gestures) than African American children. Relatedly, Feldman (1985) found that both African American and White teachers behaved more positively (head-nodding, interaction styles) with members of their own race. African American students may thus lose out on learning opportunities because of differences in cultural communication codes and student–teacher racial match.

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The finding that African American, compared to White, teachers rated African American students as having more ability and better school performance and behaviors (Touliatos, Lindholm, & Rich, 1977), suggests that teacher judgments, including stereotypic ones that may affect pupil performance through self-fulfilling prophecies (Jungbluth, 1993; Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968), are influenced by one’s sociocultural background. In this vein, Dunn (1968) found that teachers judged children whose language and cultural background differed sharply from theirs to be less intelligent than those similar to them, and Blodgett and Cooper (1973) found that teachers judged African American students who spoke standard English to be smarter and better, academically, than those who did not. African American children who do not conform to teacher expectancies for appropriate behavior are seen as having problems as early as kindergarten (Simpson & Erikson, 1983; Spivack, Marcus, & Swift, 1986); in fact, as early as the eighth day of school (Rist, 1970). Lack of cultural understanding may thus fuel stereotypic views of, and negative expectations for, African American children, and encourage self-fulfilling prophesies. Many teachers value order and organization in class. The behavioral styles of some African American children, involving a preference for interactive situations and an active affective orientation to people (Oyserman, Grant, & Ager, 1995; Ramirez & Price-Williams, 1974; Willis, 1989) may challenge that value. In this context, Brophy and Good’s (1974) review concluded that many teacher interactions with minority students revolve around control and discipline issues. More specifically, Ross and Jackson (1991) found that teachers predicted poorer achievement for African American boys described as nonsubmissive and independent, and Shade (1981) found that high-, compared to low-, achieving African American children described themselves as more accommodating and less expressive, suggesting that it is adaptive for them to behave in ways that shape teacher views positively. Conversely, Poussaint (1987) argued that one reason why African American males don’t often get and maintain good grades is that teachers see them as threatening. The findings cited suggest that racial and social background variables shape teacher attitudes toward children and ratings of their behavior (McDermott, 1995; Payne, 1994), an important set of issues for continuing study. Teacher–Child Racial Congruence and Teacher Ratings Although it has been argued that racial congruence enhances teacher awareness of African American children’s learning styles and teaching techniques that work for them (Irvine, 1989), research findings on this point are inconsistent. Supporting the hypothesis, Batty (1980) found that African American, compared to White, teachers had less negative attitudes toward African American children, and Zimmerman, Khoury, Vega, Gil, and

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Warheit (1995) reported that African American teachers judged African American children to have fewer problem behaviors than White or Hispanic teachers did. Relatedly, Meier, Stewart, and England (1989) found that the higher the proportion of African American teachers in a school, the fewer the number of African American students suspended or expelled. Findings from other experimental (Adams, 1978) and naturalistic (Bahr, Fuchs, Stecker, & Fuchs, 1991) studies, however, indicate that African American teachers view the behavior and academic performance of African American children much as White teachers do. Wilson’s (1992) study comparing ratings of Hispanic, White, and African American children by teachers of similar or different racial backgrounds, found that African American and White teachers rated the social and academic performance of African American and White students comparably. Relatedly, Tom and Cronan (1998) found no differences in academic performance between African American and White students working with same versus different race tutors. Findings supporting the congruence hypothesis have been interpreted to mean that African American teachers have a better understanding of African American children’s background and cultural heritage (Zimmerman et al., 1995). Negative findings have been interpreted to mean that because many African American teachers see themselves as more like White middleclass co-workers than low-income African American students, they may evaluate all children by White middle-class standards (McLoyd, 1998). Thus, a second study goal was to test the congruence hypothesis under tightly controlled conditions. Stereotypes Race and social class variables that visibly identify children shape first impressions and pull for subjective stereotypic views of ethnic and socioeconomic status (SES) groups (McCauley, Stitt, & Segal, 1980). Irvine (1985), for example, found that teacher ratings of African American boys were more global, less accurate, and less likely to change than those of African American or White girls. Such stereotypic views can affect children’s school functioning negatively (Steele, 1997). The study of racial stereotypes has a long history. Katz and Braly’s seminal early research (1933, 1935) identified specific descriptors associated with particular racial and ethnic groups. Illustratively, whereas 75% of all respondents described “Negroes” as superstitious and lazy, “Americans” were described as intelligent and industrious. Often stereotypic judgments were made about groups with which respondents had had no contact (e.g., Turks). Such judgments were thought to be inappropriate, overly general, inaccurate, and resistant to change. Although recent research shows some reduction in the use of racial and ethnic stereotypes, it is still a common

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practice (Devine & Elliott, 1995). Hence, a further study goal was to compare the extent of usage of stereotypic terms in describing African American and White children as a function of teacher race and teacher–student racial congruence. Teacher Expectations Prior research has shown that White teachers expect White children to be more successful academically than African American children (Guttman & Bar-Tal, 1982; Irvine, 1988). Indeed, Baron, Tom, and Cooper’s (1985) analysis of 16 studies showed that teacher expectations were uniformly higher for White children than for African American children. Teachers with lower academic expectations for African American students invest less time in them (Chunn, 1988), provide fewer opportunities for their involvement (Rowser, 1994), and offer less encouragement for their efforts (Jeter, 1975). With regard to racial congruence, both Beady and Hansell (1981) and Ehrenberg, Goldhaber, and Brewer (1995) found that African American teachers believed it more likely than White teachers that African American students would enter or complete college. Griffith and London (1980) found African American teachers to be more optimistic than White teachers about African American students’ future academic careers, and DeMeis and Turner (1978) reported that White elementary teachers rated African American (and “Black”-speaking) students lower on future educational potential. Hence, a third study focus was on the extent to which teacher race and teacher–student race congruence predicted teacher expectations for children’s academic futures. Differences Among Prior Study Findings Discrepant findings among prior studies comparing teacher-reported behavioral and academic adjustment of African American and White children reflect such factors as when and how studies were conducted and differences in the educational and community contexts in which they took place. Such variables can color teacher views of the adjustment and academic prognosis of African American and White children. Study findings may also differ because the world changes with time. For example, today there are many more African American teachers than there were 30 years ago, and higher proportions in multiracial schools. Another reason for different findings in studies comparing African American and White children’s school adjustment and performance is failure to control for SES differences which, in turn, may confound race and SES (Frisby, 1992). In this regard, it has been shown that teachers see poor

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children as weaker academically, and have lesser expectations for their academic achievement and futures (McLoyd, 1998). Indeed, such views help to explain why the school achievement of poor children decreases over time, the likelihood of their retention in grade or special education placement increases, and expectations for their future get bleaker (Zill, Moore, Smith, Stief, & Coiro, 1995). Two features of the present study design sought to shed light on these issues: (a) its focus on poor inner-city children, on the assumption that that is the most “ecologically valid” context for such research; and (b) the tight controls used to match the two race groups on gender, grade level, home neighborhood, school, and teacher, and to match the teacher groups on age and years of experience, thereby establishing child race, teacher race, and teacher–child congruence as relatively “pure” independent variables. Summary and Hypotheses Prior research findings suggest that (a) teachers judge African American children to have more serious problems, fewer adaptive behaviors, more negative personality traits, and poorer educational prognoses than White children; and (b) White teachers rate African American children less positively than African American teachers on the above dimensions. Negative teacher judgments about the behavior and academic potential of African American children are likely to affect their socioeducational development adversely (Wong, Derlega, & Colson, 1988). Children become aware of race differences early in life (Clark & Clark, 1947; Grant, 1988) and internalize the views of pertinent others. Negative messages conveyed openly and subtly to young African American children make it more difficult for them to establish positive self-identity or to maintain motivation in school (Comer, 1989; McCarthy & Crichlow, 1993). Findings from studies examining the role of teacher race and teacher– pupil racial congruence in teacher judgments about children’s school adjustment and educational futures have been somewhat inconsistent, and prior studies in this area have often been marred by SES–race confounds. With potential confound variables tightly controlled, the present study’s main hypothesis was that African American students would be judged to have more serious adjustment problems, fewer competencies, more stereotypically negative behaviors, and poorer academic prognoses than demographically matched White children. Also tested was the hypothesis that teachers would judge racially congruent children more positively than racially noncongruent ones on the study’s main outcome measures. METHOD This study was embedded in a Rochester City School District (RCSD) renorming project for the Teacher–Child Rating Scale (T-CRS), a measure of

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school problem behaviors and competencies (Hightower et al., 1986). The renorming study was prompted by the growing proportions of minority students in the RCSD in the 12 years since the T-CRS was first developed. Its design provided a unique opportunity to study how teacher and child race may influence teacher ratings. Participants Child and teacher participants came from 70 kindergarten through fifthgrade classrooms in 24 multiracial inner-city schools. Each participating teacher initially provided ratings of four African American and four White children, two of each gender in each race group, selected randomly insofar as degrees of freedom permitted. Children were dropped from the study if (a) any rating form was missing ⱖ10% of its items; (b) teacher age, race, or years of experience was unknown; (c) the teacher was a male (there were too few); (d) ratings were provided for fewer than three African American or White children; and (e) children had moved. These reductions left 495 children. Although 75% of the children in this poor sample were eligible for free or reduced-cost lunch, significantly more African American cjildren than White children so classified (␹2 ⫽ 12.39, df ⫽ 2, p ⬍ .01). Hence, 25 lunch-eligible African American and 25 noneligible White children were dropped to eliminate significant race differences on this variable.1 The final study sample included 445 children (226 African American, 219 White). The two groups were virtually identical by gender distribution, school and residence communities, grade level, teacher, and eligibility for free lunch. The study’s 26 African American and 44 White teachers were comparable in age (MAA ⫽ 44.0, MW ⫽ 41.5, t ⫽ 1.00, ns) and years of experience (MAA ⫽ 15.54, MW ⫽ 14.61, t ⫽ 1.15, ns). The tight match of child and teacher race groups on pertinent demographic and life history variables (cf. above) was a key distinguishing feature of the study. Measures Teacher ratings of children’s school adjustment. Children’s school adjustment was assessed with the two-part, 38-item T-CRS (Hightower et al., 1986). Part I consisted of three 6-item factor subscales reflecting class problems: Acting Out (e.g., “disruptive in class”), Shy/Anxious (e.g., “shy, timid”), and Learning Problems (e.g., “poor work habits”). Teachers rated these items on a 5-point scale (1 ⫽ not a problem, 5 ⫽ very serious problem). High Part I factor and total scores reflect more serious problems. Part II’s 20 items assessed children’s classroom competencies on a 5-point descriptive scale (1 ⫽ describes not at all, 5 ⫽ describes very well). These 1

Separate analyses with the samples of 495 and 445 pupils yielded similar findings.

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items comprised four 5-item factor subscales: Frustration Tolerance (e.g., “copes well with failure”), Assertive Social Skills (e.g., “expresses ideas willingly”), Task Orientation (e.g., “completes work”), and Peer Social Skills (e.g., “is friendly toward peers”). High Part II factor and total scores reflect greater competence. T-CRS subscale alphas ranged from .85 to .95 (median ⫽ .92). Stability coefficients (10–20 weeks) ranged from .66 to .85 with a median of .74. The measure differentiates children referred, versus not referred, to school mental health services, and has convergent relationships with measures of anxiety, achievement, and self-control (Hightower et al., 1986). Stereotype descriptive index. Twenty-four positive and negative adjectives were chosen, the latter including stereotypes used to describe African Americans in prior research (Devine & Elliot, 1995; Katz & Braly, 1933). To verify the currency of such usage, 12 PhDs and graduate students in psychology were asked to classify each adjective as positive or negative, and to rate the extent to which it was seen as stereotypic (0 ⫽ not at all; 1 ⫽ somewhat; 2 ⫽ very much). Seven negative descriptors (e.g., lazy, irresponsible) were selected based on judge agreement that each had somewhat or very much stereotypic value. Five positive adjectives were used as “fillers.” Teachers rated each child on each item using a 4-point scale: (1 ⫽ does not describe; 4 ⫽ describes very well). Scores were keyed so that high scores reflected more negative stereotypes. Teacher expectation items. Four items assessed teacher expectations of children’s academic progress (e.g., “will graduate from high school”), using a 4-point scale (1 ⫽ does not describe to 4 ⫽ describes very well). After reversekeying two negative items, total scores ranged from 4 to 16. High scores indicated more positive expectations. Procedure Letters describing the T-CRS renorming study were sent to principals of all schools with racially mixed student and teacher populations. In schools that agreed to participate, teacher meetings were held to describe the study’s purposes and procedures. Teachers were given packets with the study measures, instructions for completing them, and a list of 8 preselected children to be rated. Teachers were paid $15 to complete each set of ratings. RESULTS Correlational Analyses Tables 1 and 2 summarize correlations among the study’s four dependent variables for the total sample and the two race subgroups. For the full sam-

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Table 1 Correlations Among Criterion Variables: Total Sample

T-CRS-(C) Negative Stereotypes Expectations

T-CRS-P

T-CRS-C

Negative Stereotypes

⫺.77 (.01) .41 (.01) ⫺.69 (.01)

⫺.23 (.01) .66 (.01)

⫺.25 (.01)

Note: T-CRS-P ⫽ Teacher–Child Rating Scale Problem total. T-CRS-C ⫽ Teacher–Child Rating Scale Competence total.

Table 2 Correlations Among Criterion Variables: African American and White Subgroups

T-CRS-P T-CRS-C Negative Stereotypes Expectations

T-CRS-P

T-CRS-C

—

⫺.77 .67 —

⫺.76 (.01) .23a (.01) ⫺.69 (.01)

⫺.09b (ns) .67 (.01)

Negative Stereotypes .54a (.01) ⫺.32b (.01) — ⫺.09c (ns)

Expectations ⫺.69 (.01) .65 (.01) ⫺.33c (.01) —

Note: T-CRS-P ⫽ Teacher–Child Rating Scale Problem total. T-CRS-C ⫽ Teacher–Child Rating Scale Competence total. Superscripts denote r values that differ significantly for child race, as assessed by Fisher’s r to z transformation. r s above the diagonal are for African American children; r s below the diagonal are for White children.

ple, these six r s ranged from ⫺.23 to ⫺.77. Findings for the two race subgroups were very similar to those for the full sample. In the latter analyses, the significance of the differences between each of the six pairs of r s was tested by r to z transformation. Three of these six differences were significant. Each involved the negative stereotype variable and, in each case, the higher r was in the African American group.2 Specifically, these differences were between negative stereotypes and T-CRS problem behaviors (t ⫽ 3.85, p ⱕ .01), T-CRS competencies (t ⫽ 2.32, p ⱕ .01), and teacher expectations (t ⫽ 2.65, p ⱕ .01). The same six r s were also computed separately for the study’s four cells of interest (i.e., White and African American teachers rating White and African American children). The range, significance levels, and differences in 2 Illustratively, negative stereotype score and T-CRS problem behavior total was .54 for African Americans and .23 for Whites.

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pairs of r s were similar to those reported above for African American and White teachers. Group comparisons. Four separate 2 (child race) ⫻ 2 (teacher race) MANOVAs were run: 1. 2. 3. 4.

MANOVA 1: Seven T-CRS subscales. MANOVA 2: Seven negative stereotype items. MANOVA 3: Four expectancy items. MANOVA 4: Four sum scores (T-CRS problems, competencies, negative stereotypes, and expectancy totals).

Table 3 summarizes these findings. For T-CRS subscales, child race was the only significant MANOVA F. Univariate analyses showed that four subscales significantly differentiated groups. Specifically, teachers rated African American children higher on Acting-Out and Learning Problems, and lower on Task Orientation and Frustration Tolerance competencies than White peers. For negative stereotypes, again only the MANOVA F for child race was significant. Univariate Fs showed that African American children were rated significantly more negatively than White children on five descriptors: boisterous, argumentative, disobedient, irresponsible, and unreliable. For expectancy items, MANOVA Fs for both child and teacher race were significant. For child race, teachers judged that African American children would: (a) have more problems that interfere with their schoolwork, (b) be less likely to graduate from high school, and (c) be more likely to have a difficult future. African American, compared to White, teachers, rated all children as smarter than their grades indicated and White teachers rated all children as having more problems that interfere with school work, and more likely to have a difficult future. For the four summary scores, MANOVA Fs for both child and teacher race were significant.3 Univariate Fs for child race showed that African American children were judged to have more classroom problems, fewer competencies, more stereotypically negative behaviors, and be less likely to have a good academic future than White peers. Also, African American teachers rated all children as having more competencies and fewer problems than White teachers, and had more positive expectations for their academic futures. No significant teacher race by child race interaction was found in any of the group comparisons reported above. DISCUSSION Several families of explanations have been advanced to account for the educational and school adjustment problems that African American children 3

MANOVA F for teacher race was significant at .09.

MANOVA 1: T-CRS Subscales Acting Out Shy/Anxious Learning Problems Frustration Tolerance Assertive Social Skills Task Orientation Peer Social Skills MANOVA 2: Negative Stereotypes Boisterous Argumentative Disobedient Sullen Irresponsible Lazy Unreliable 6.96 4.92 7.59 5.17 5.61 5.81 4.93 1.08 1.02 1.03 0.82 0.94 0.96 0.92

1.99 1.88 1.74 1.65 1.86 1.82 1.69

SD

11.71 10.14 14.71 14.40 15.60 14.46 17.73

M

AA Children

1.48 1.57 1.48 1.66 1.63 1.66 1.50

10.14 10.50 12.14 16.54 16.25 16.25 17.85

M

0.87 0.91 0.77 0.91 0.79 0.92 0.79

5.35 5.25 7.15 5.14 6.44 6.76 5.72

SD

White Children

African American Teachers

1.94 2.03 1.86 1.75 1.91 1.78 1.80

12.80 10.94 14.49 13.41 15.07 14.33 16.72

M

1.06 1.13 1.05 0.94 0.96 0.84 0.93

6.93 4.86 7.40 5.47 5.42 5.93 5.32

SD

AA Children SD

MANOVAs 11.35 6.66 11.49 6.04 13.74 7.85 15.42 5.37 14.96 5.93 14.92 6.47 16.98 5.80 MANOVAs 1.72 0.96 1.62 0.94 1.58 0.89 1.51 0.78 1.69 0.88 1.66 0.86 1.58 0.84

M

White Children

White Teachers

.68

1.13

F

.68

.33

p

Teacher Race

4.10 5.45 0.76 5.06 15.76 0.23 3.78 0.12 2.58 13.89 13.23 8.48 1.82 6.36 2.29 5.82

F

.01 .02 .38 .02 .01 .63 .05 .72 .01 .01 .01 .01 .17 .01 .13 .01

p

Child Race

Effect

.53

.85

p

(continued)

.86

.47

F

TR ⫻ CR

Table 3 Means, Standard Deviations, and F values Comparing African American and White Subgroups on Criterion Measures (N ⫽ 445)

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1.12 1.12 1.01 1.18 15.71 17.94 5.09 3.49

2.17 2.01 3.17 2.15 36.57 62.20 12.67 11.18

SD

32.78 66.90 11.04 12.11

3.45 1.91

1.63

2.20

M

13.92 19.97 3.86 2.81

0.86 1.11

0.95

1.17

SD

White Children

38.29 59.39 13.10 10.53

3.07 2.38

2.15

1.99

M

15.55 18.32 5.12 3.06

0.95 1.14

1.21

1.07

SD

SD

1.05

3.30 0.89 2.15 1.09 MANOVAs 36.57 15.81 62.29 19.56 11.39 4.23 11.12 2.85

1.94

MANOVAs 1.91 1.01

M

White Children

White Teachers AA Children

Note: T–CRS ⫽ Teacher–Child Rating Scale; TR ⫽ teacher race, CR ⫽ child race. a Negative expectancy items were reverse keyed to obtain total score.

MANOVA 3: Four Expectations Smarter than grades indicate Problems interfere with schoolworka Will graduate from high school Will have difficult futurea MANOVA 4: Total Scores Problem Total Competence Total Stereotype Total Expectancy Totala

M

AA Children

African American Teachers

Table 3 (Continued)

1.97 4.63 1.97 3.98 3.37 0.71 7.79

5.55

2.83 5.02

F

.16 .03 .09 .04 .06 .40 .01

.03

.02 .02

p

Teacher Race

7.82 4.69 4.63 4.17 3.37 13.12 5.85

9.13

2.29 0.55

F

.01 .03 .01 .04 .06 .01 .01

.01

.05 .82

p

Child Race

Effect

.15

.34

F

.96

.84

p

TR ⫻ CR

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often experience. The most controversial argues that they are deficient in the cognitive, social, and motivational skills needed to succeed in school (Hernstein & Murray, 1995; Jensen, 1969). A second highlights cultural factors that shape the perceptions and treatment (e.g., subordination, prejudice, and exploitation) of African Americans in modern society (Ogbu, 1988; 1997)—factors that reduce motivation and lower expectations in school (Cook, Church, & Ajanaku, 1996; Fordham & Ogbu, 1986; Wilson & Banks, 1994). A third explanation of the adverse school outcomes of African American children, focusing on schools’ orientations to and expectancies for them, has stimulated studies of teacher ratings of the school adjustment of African American and White children. Studies in this cluster that have taken teacher race and teacher–pupil race congruence into account have yielded mixed findings, perhaps reflecting the facts that they were done at different times, in different communities, and often did not control for SES differences between race groups. Within this third set of explanations, this study assessed the roles played by child race, teacher race, and their interaction in teacher ratings of the school behavior and performance of poor inner-city children. To clarify the contributions of these three independent variables, the study used a carefully controlled design that closely matched child groups by gender, grade level, teacher, school, and community, and matched teacher groups by age and experience. Main Study Findings The study’s main outcome measures were teacher ratings of children’s school problems and competencies, use of negative stereotypes in describing children, and expectations for children’s future. Child race was the strongest determinant of African American and White teachers’ judgments on all measures. Consistent with prior findings (Dauber et al., 1993; DeMeis & Turner, 1977; Kelly et al., 1977; Zimmerman et al., 1995), African American children were judged by both teacher groups to have more serious school adjustment problems, fewer competencies, more negatively stereotypic personality qualities, and poorer educational prognoses than White children. With several exceptions, teacher race did not differentiate ratings of African American and White children and in no case did teacher– student racial congruence predict such differences. Although the latter is a variable thought by some to be central to such prediction (Irvine, 1989; Zimmerman et al., 1995) the present negative findings parallel those of Tom & Cronan (1998) and Wilson (1992). Two secondary findings bear comment. That African American teachers judged all pupils to have fewer problems, more competencies, and better educational futures than White teachers may reflect personal experiences

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that incline them more to see education as a valued commodity, instrumental to a poor child’s success. Hence they may have a higher threshold for misbehavior or, as Schultz (1993) suggested, be more sensitized to connections between teacher support and children’s motivation and effort. Thus, the life experiences of African American teachers may make them more tolerant of children’s academic and behavior problems and more supportive of their efforts. Second, for both teacher groups the use of negative descriptors related more closely to adjustment ratings and future academic expectancies for African American children than for White children. Adjustment ratings may thus be more automatic and global when a child is seen to have stereotypically negative qualities. If linkages between stereotypic views and teacher adjustment ratings of African American children resist change in the face of academic accomplishment, it may increase student self-doubt and reduce effort (Osbourne, 1997; Steele & Aronson, 1995). The study’s strongest finding—that both African American and White teachers judged African American children to have more serious school adjustment problems and fewer competencies than White children— emerged in a carefully controlled design in which equally experienced African American and White teachers rated equal numbers of demographically matched poor urban African American and White children. Within that design, study data suggest that the oft-reported school adjustment problems of African American students do not primarily reflect either rating differences between African American and White teachers, or pupil–teacher racial congruence. Otherwise put, in these carefully matched poor samples, both African American and White teachers judged African American children to have more serious school adjustment problems than White children. Those findings might differ for other samples and study conditions. The educational and school adjustment problems of African American children are costly for individuals and society. That African American and White teachers rated the school adjustment problems of African American children similarly heightens the need to explore other cultural and social factors that predispose unfulfilling educational outcomes for these children. One such explanation—that poor children are less well-prepared for school—has fueled development of preparatory programs to help them acquire skills and motivations that promote educational gain (Dryfoos, 1994; Lombard, 1994). High quality early family-oriented intervention programs (Schweinhart, Barnes, & Weikart, 1993; Zigler & Styfco, 1994) have yielded such benefits. Those findings have been interpreted to mean that school preparedness lays the foundation for school success which, in turn, paves the way for gains on such bellwether criteria as years of education attained, job status and income, and fewer arrests or incarcerations (Berrueta-Clement, Schweinhart, Barnett, Epstein, & Weikart, 1984; Campbell & Ramey, 1995; Schweinhart et al., 1993). A caution, however: Even the best child– family intervention may not be enough to overcome profound stressors

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(e.g., harsh living conditions, discrimination, lack of access to quality child care, substandard schools) associated with poverty (McLoyd, 1998; Zigler & Styfco, 1994). Important initial gains from early intervention programs can erode under the weight of such oppressive realities. Urban African American children must often learn survival skills in highly stressful environments. An active assertive style, adaptive in the neighborhood context (McLoyd, 1998), may well be seen as problem behavior in school (Marchant, 1991; Ogbu, 1997). Shade’s (1981) finding that high-achieving African American children described themselves as more accommodating, tranquil, and less expressive than low achieving peers, suggests that school adaptation for them calls for behaviors that shape teacher impressions positively and thus favor better grades and school achievement. Thus, teaching children specific skills needed for school success can enhance their school adaptation. The obstacles that poor African American children face make them pessimistic about the value of education (Ford, 1993; McLoyd, 1998). Mickelson (1990) found that even African American children with positive feelings about school were more skeptical than White peers that school would help them attain life goals. Such negative expectancies reduce a child’s investment in school, and make for less help-seeking (Nelson-LeGall & Jones, 1991) and greater reluctance to do schoolwork (Ogbu, 1995). The present findings point out the need to explore how African American children perceive school and teachers, and relationships between these views and educational and behavioral outcomes. Such information may harbor useful practical cues about how to enhance educational outcomes for them. Although the study’s focus on poor, inner-city children somewhat limits generalizations of its findings, because the most compelling manifestations of the educational problems of African American children occur in the urban inner city (Sarason, 1998), that is still a face-valid, prime locus for future research in this area. Clearly, more research is needed before the complex factors that underlie the educational and school adjustment problems of African American children are fully understood and can be addressed effectively. This study, an early step in that direction, examined one potentially important set of such determinants, that is, the roles of child race, teacher race, and their interaction in shaping teacher judgments of the school adjustment of poor African American and White children. A key future goal is to gather information that can promote significantly improved school experiences, academic outcomes, and life opportunities for African American children. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors express sincere gratitude to A. Dirk Hightower, Andrew McGowan, Tamara Hagen, Katherine Jensen, and Bohdan S. Lotyzewski for their

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