THE TRAITS OF GOOD TEACHERS AS IDENTIFIED BY AFRICAN-AMERICAN AND WHITE STUDENTS WITH EMOTIONAL AND OR BEHAVIORAL-DISORDERS/

The responses of 209 youngsters in 11 programs for students with emoti onal and/or behavioral disorders (E/BD) were examined regarding their perceptions of four trait categories of so-called good teachers: Perso nality Traits, Respectful Treatment of Students, Behavior Management P ractices, and instructional Skills. Results demonstrated that African- American students perceived Personality Traits and Respectful Treatmen t of Students as being more important than their white counterparts; f emales felt that all four of the trait configurations were more import ant than their male counterparts felt they were; and as the age of stu dents increased, each of the four trait configurations was viewed as b eing less important. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.