Teacher race, child race, racial congruence, and teacher ratings of children's school adjustment

This study examined the effects of teacher race, pupil race, and teacher-ch ild racial congruence on teacher ratings of the school adjustment of 445 ki ndergarten through fifth-grade children from 70 classrooms in 24 racially m ixed 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 grou ps 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 jud ged by both African American and White teachers to have more serious school adjustment problems, fewer competencies, more stereotypically negative qua lities, and poorer future educational prognoses than White children. The re lation between stereotypic teacher views and other adjustment indicators wa s 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 acad emic expectations for all children. No significant teacher race X student r ace interactions were found. (C) 2000 Society for the Study of School Psych ology. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.