White Teachers Less Likely to See Black Students as Gifted

In the April 12 edition of the Sunday New York Times, an article asked Where Are the Teachers of Color? In it, the public schools in Boston were described as having one black teacher for every 22 black students, and just one Latino teacher for every 52 Latino students. Other school districts’ ratios were similar.

“Ultimately, parents are going to respect anybody who they think cares about their kids,â€ Andres Antonio Alonso, professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, was quoted as saying. “But if there are no people who somehow mirror the parents and the kids, then I think there could be a problem.â€

Perhaps one problem is that black students who go to school where there are lower numbers of black teachers are less likely to be identified as gifted. According to a new study, this is also true of Latino students.