America’s Teachers Still Don’t Think Latino and Black Kids Are Smart

*This is disturbing. What’s more disturbing, and I get this from anecdotal reports, is that many Latino classroom teachers are the ones who hold low expectations for their Latino students. VL

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By Britni Danielle, Take Part

Students of color are up against difficult odds. They are more likely to be trapped in failing, underfunded schools; more likely to be suspended for minor infractions; less likely to have “expert teachers.” While policy makers, educators, parents, and politicians seem to be scrambling to figure out how to close the achievement gap by demanding more rigorous nationwide standards, a new report by the Center for American Progress found that the very folks tasked with making sure kids of color succeed might be the ones holding them back.

[pullquote][tweet_dis]Secondary teachers have lower expectations for students of color and students from disadvantaged backgrounds.[/tweet_dis][/pullquote]

In The Power of the Pygmalion Effect, CAP researchers combed through a decade of data about 10th graders to explore how teacher expectations affect student achievement. Predictably, the report found that high schoolers whose teachers had high expectations for their future were far more likely to finish college than those whose teachers did not. Sounds great—until you further analyze the results.

“Secondary teachers have lower expectations for students of color and students from disadvantaged backgrounds,” the report’s authors write. “[tweet_dis]Secondary teachers predicted that high-poverty students were 53 percent less likely to earn a college diploma than their more affluent peers[/tweet_dis].”

Click HERE to read the full story.

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[Photo by Media Arts Center San Diego/Flickr]

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