One Black Teacher Can Improve Outcomes for Black Students

“The researchers studied approximately 100,000 black students who enrolled in third grade in North Carolina’s public schools between 2001 and 2005 and found that the risk of dropping out for black students decreased by 29 percent if they had at least one black teacher in third through fifth grades. And for persistently low-income black boys, the risk decreased by 39 percent.
Among that cohort of students, about 13 percent ended up dropping out of high school, while about half graduated but with no plans to pursue college. However, low-income black students who had one black teacher were 18 percent more likely to express interest in college when they graduated, and persistently low-income black boys were 29 percent more likely to say they were considering college.”