Study: Teachers Less Likely To Believe Students Of Different Race, Different Sex Will Do Well In School.

Education Week (9/15, Sparks) reports a new study from researchers at American University and Johns Hopkins University found that a teacher’s belief about their student’s potential can be affected by the fact that they are a different race or sex than that student. The study asked the teachers of 8,000 students to predict how far they thought their students would go in school. The study found that there were large gaps in teachers’ expectations for students from different backgrounds, but also found gaps between teachers for the same student. For example, non-black teachers were 12% less likely to believe that black students would pursue higher education than teachers of all races. The study is based on data from a longitudinal study that began in 2002, which the researchers plan to continue.