Examining the Relationships between Teacher Racial Bias, the Quality of Student-Teacher Relationships, and the Possible Moderating Role of Teacher-Student Racial Mismatch

Background and Purpose: Racism in schools is evident across the United States (US) historical timeline of preschool through twelfth grade (PK-12) schooling. Ample research has demonstrated students face racial discrimination and educational inequities in schools (Kohli et al., 2017). Teacher racial bias is one form of interpersonal racism that can occur in the classroom (Chin et al., 2020). However, no study to date has examined whether teacher racial bias relates to a key student outcome – the quality of student-teacher relationships. Therefore, this study aimed to answer: 1) Do PK-12 US teachers’ perceptions of their own implicit and explicit racial bias predict the quality of their relationships with students? 2) Does teacher-student racial mismatch moderate the relationship between US teacher perceptions of implicit and explicit racial bias and the quality of student-teacher relationships?

Methods: Data were collected from an online cross-sectional survey of PK-12 US public school teachers in Fall of 2022. Measures of implicit and explicit racial bias, teacher-student racial mismatch, the quality of student-teacher relationships, and demographics were included. Data were screened for eligibility, completeness, and integrity (i.e., bots and malicious actors). Then, multiple linear regressions were conducted in SPSS. One hundred and fifteen (n = 115) teachers representing 29 states had complete and valid responses to all model variables. Most teachers identified as Female (n = 72, 63%), followed by Male (n = 42, 36.5%) and Non-Binary (n = 1, 1%). Seventy-five percent of participants identified as White (n = 86), 17% as Latinx or Hispanic, 16% as Black or African American (n = 18), 5% as Asian (n = 6), and less than 3% each as Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, Native American or Alaska Native, Biracial, or Another Race or Ethnicity.

Results: The overall model predicted 30% of the variability in the quality of student-teacher relationships (R² = .302; Adj. R² = .270, p <.001**; F [5, 109] = 9.413, p <.001). However, results show teachers’ explicit racial bias, measured by the Bayesian Racism Scale, was the only statistically significant predictor of the quality of student-teacher relationships. Higher levels of racist attitudes predicted lower quality student-teacher relationships (B = -2.694, p = .049). Teacher-student racial mismatch did not act as a moderator between implicit and explicit racial bias predictors and the quality of student-teacher relationships.

Conclusions and Implications: Findings further reinforce the responsibility and critical role social workers in educational spaces have to elevate concerns regarding teacher implicit and explicit racial biases. Implications will be discussed related to advancing school social work research and practice to create more equitable student outcomes for students from marginalized racial and ethnic identities.

References:

Chin, M. J., Quinn, D. M., Dhaliwal, T. K., & Lovison, V. S. (2020). Bias in the air: A nationwide exploration of teachers’ implicit racial attitudes, aggregate bias, and student outcomes. Educational Researcher, 49(8), 566-578.

Kohli, R., Pizarro, M., & Nevárez, A. (2017). The “new racism” of K–12 schools: Centering critical research on racism. Review of Research in Education, 41(1), 182-202.