Differences in Teacher Background and School Structure by Racial / Ethnic Congruence between Teachers and Students

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Rhys

The investigation examines how teacher racial/ethnic congruence with students in their school relates to occupational stress, while first testing whether congruent and incongruent teachers are equivalent in personal characteristics, professional qualifications, and contextual factors. Using nationally representative 2015–2016 National Teacher and Principal Survey data matched with school demographics from the Common Core of Data, the study defines congruence by student racial group predominance. Analyses compare elementary teachers across racial/ethnic groups, finding statistically significant background and structural differences for both Black and Hispanic teachers in key areas.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Differences in teacher background and school structure by racial/ethnic congruence

Methods

Data source

Analyses

Results

Differences in Teacher Background and School Structure by Racial / Ethnic Congruence between Teachers and Students This investigation is a subset of a larger study (Fitchett et al., 2020; Lambert et al., 2020; McCarthy et al., 2020) of the relationship between a teacher’s racial / ethnic congruence with the students in their school and occupational stress. Prior to comparing congruent and incongruent teachers on indictors of stress, the researchers sought to investigate whether teachers working in congruent and incongruent school settings are equivalent with respect to personal characteristics, professional qualifications, and contextual factors. White children comprise less than 50% of the population of U.S. schools, but White female teachers represent approximately 80% of the U.S. teacher workforce. Black students comprise 16% of U.S. public schools, but only 7% of teachers identify as Black (Villegas et al., 2012) . Hispanics make up 20% of students and 19% of teachers (NCES, 2020) . However, more than half of U. S. students attend schools that are either 75%+ White or 75%+ students of color (EdBuild, 2019) . In schools with 75%+ White students, Black and Hispanic teachers make up 2% of the teaching staff combined, with White teachers comprising 97%(NCES, 2014) . Black and Hispanic teachers are much more likely to work in schools with high-concentrations of students from minoritized racial/ethnic backgrounds. Racial/ethnic congruence refers to the match between the racial/ethnic demographics of students and the teacher’s own race/ethnicity (Grissom et al., 2015; Mueller et al., 1999; Villegas et al., 2012) . Research examining school settings where congruence exists between minority students and teachers has found positive outcomes for minority students in the areas of achievement, attendance, and satisfaction (Grissom et al., 2015; Gershenson, Holt, & Papageorge, 2016). Racial/ethnic incongruence, especially for White teachers, is linked to many potential sources of teaching demands, such as student discipline (Blake et al., 2016), learning outcomes (Dee, 2005; Egalite, Kisida, & Winters, 2015), and relationships with colleagues (Coffey & Farinde-Wu, 2016) . Since teachers of color have navigated a minoritized experience throughout their lives, research suggests that they are less likely to appraise working conditions in White majority contexts as demanding compared to White teachers in majority minority contexts (Fitchett et al, 2020) . The question remains as to whether congruent and incongruent teachers of different race / ethnicities are equivalent with respect to background characteristics. Methods Data Source The teacher data source was the nationally representative 2015-2016 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) . The Common Core of Data (CCD) was the source of student demographic information in each sampled school. Participants were only eligible for the study if they were full-time teachers, identified as Black, Hispanic, or White, and if student demographic variables for their school were available in the CCD. The final number of participants for this study was 25,420 in 5,500 schools. NTPS teacher responses were first matched with all relevant school-level variables from the CCD to create a variable indicating whether each teacher was racially/ethnically congruent with the predominant student racial group in their school. Over 96% of American teachers selfidentified as Black, Hispanic, or White and other ethnicities and races were excluded due to small sample sizes. The CCD included data on the number of White, Black, and Hispanic students in each school. Previous studies have used a range of cutoffs (e.g. 40% to 70%) to establish racial majority (Renzulli et al., 2011; Fairchild et al., 2012). We examined whether the student body was or was not greater than 50% Black, Hispanic, or White. The school race/ethnicity concentrations

FAQs

How is racial/ethnic congruence defined in the study?

Racial/ethnic congruence is defined as the match between the racial/ethnic demographics of students and the teacher’s own race/ethnicity in the sampled school setting.

What data sources were used for teachers and students?

Teacher data come from the nationally representative 2015–2016 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), and student demographic information is drawn from the Common Core of Data (CCD) for each sampled school.

What differences were found for congruent vs. incongruent Black elementary teachers?

For five of 22 background and structural characteristics, statistically significant differences emerged, including that Black incongruent teachers were less likely to be new to their school and served higher shares of children with LEP, while serving lower shares in poverty and receiving Title I services.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Rhys