AERA Open - A Remote Instructor Like Me: Student–Teacher Congruence in Online, High School Courses

Oct 15, 2026

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A study examines how student–teacher congruence in online high school courses relates to engagement and learning outcomes for students from marginalized groups. Using a student-by-course fixed effect strategy with session-level data from a large urban school district, the research tests whether racial/ethnic or gender match with remote instructors matters. Findings show higher engagement for Black students with same-race remote instructors, while achievement differences are not observed within lessons. The analysis suggests representation can influence engagement even in impersonal, scripted instruction, and representation appears in small doses.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

Research Focus

Student–Teacher Congruence Mechanisms

Policy Implications and Research Gaps

Research Questions

Distribution of Remote Instructor Identities

Association With Course Outcomes

AERA Open January-December 2021, Vol. XX, No. X, pp. 1–16 DOI: 10. 1177/23328584211018719 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)© The Author(s) 2021. [https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero](https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero) A Remote Instructor Like Me: Student–Teacher Congruence in Online, High School Courses Jennifer Darling-Aduana Georgia State University Students belonging to marginalized groups experience positive impacts when taught by a teacher of the same race, ethnicity, and gender. The unique nature of standardized, asynchronous online course taking allows for greater separation of any possible educational benefits of student versus teacher-driven mechanisms contributing to these improved outcomes. Using a student-bycourse fixed effect strategy on datafrom a large urban school district, I examined associations between whether students experienced racial/ethnic or gender congruence with their remote instructor and both engagement and learning outcomes. Students who identified as Black demonstrated higher rates of engagement, although no difference in achievement, within lessons taught by a same-race remote instructor. I find that representation is associated with engagement even when instructors follow closely scripted lessons, representation occurs in only small doses, and instruction occurs in an impersonal setting. Keywords: student–teacher match, representation, online learning ReseaRcheRs have established positive impacts for students belonging to marginalized groups taught by teachers of the same race/ethnicity and gender (Dee, 2005; Egalite et al., 2015; Gershenson et al., 2016; Gershenson et al., 2017; Grissom et al., 2015; Keiser et al., 2002; Xu & Li, 2018) . Sometimes these positive impacts are teacher-based when sharing demographic characteristics results in an increased willingness by teachers to make decisions favorable to ingroup members (Nicholson-Crotty et al., 2011) . Studentbased mechanisms may also produce more positive outcomes due to differences in how students interpret their teachers’actions (Grissom et al., 2015) . For instance, students taught by a teacher of the same race/ethnicity or gender might be less likely to experience stereotype threat—when a negative stereotype about their identity is activated due to concern that they might confirm that negative stereotype (Steele, 1997; Steele & Aronson, 1995) . Relatedly, being taught by an instructor of the same identity might activate a role model effect, whereby instructors with similar ascriptive characteristics act “as behavioral models, representing the possible, and being inspirational” as a means to improve student motivation, self-efficacy, and subsequent performance (Morgenroth et al., 2015, pp. 465) . Understanding the mechanisms behind these “match effects” is important because student–teacher congruence appears to alleviate systemic inequities in a manner that improves the educational experiences and outcomes of student disproportionately harmed by these systems without removing resources or otherwise reducing the quality of educational experiences for students from nonmarginalized (or less marginalized) groups. In other words, there is an element to representation in the classroom that has yet to be fully identified that has the potential to pinpoint long withstanding bias and disparities in how children are educated in the United States. Beyond replicating the positive effects associated with student−teacher congruence by increasing representation in the classroom, the knowledge gained through probing the relative strength and efficacy of likely mechanisms can be leveraged to develop new systems and interventions to mitigate educational opportunity gaps. Based on evidence of positive associations between student–teacher congruence and academic outcomes for students belonging to marginalized groups, researchers ha

FAQs

What does the study mean by student–teacher congruence in online courses?

It refers to whether students experience racial/ethnic or gender alignment with their remote instructor. The study investigates how this “match” relates to engagement and learning outcomes.

What research design and data source does the study use?

The analysis uses a student-by-course fixed effect strategy with detailed session-level data collected by the online course system from a large urban school district.

What are the key findings regarding engagement and achievement?

Students identifying as Black showed higher engagement when taught by a same-race remote instructor, but there was no difference in achievement within lessons taught by a same-race remote instructor.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Adam