WHITLOWE R. GREEN COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Doctoral Proposal Defense Announcement
The Impact of Teacher Race/Ethnicity on Student Performance in Texas
(May 2015)
Christopher Rashard O’Brine, B.A., Sam Houston State University; M.A., Sam Houston State
University
Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Douglas Hermond
From an ethnic standpoint, public schools functioned very differently before segregation
took place over 50 years ago. After integration was mandated, for example, a significant
percentage of African-American teachers became unemployed due to the required bussing of
their students to “white schools”; African American students lost many of their traditions. With
origins rooted in this fundamental shift between the teacher-student transformation, today’s
educators must deal with the issue of historically marginalized groups of students who do not
excel, which may be due to the disproportionate number of teachers who “do not look like them”
(Salinas, 2002). Thus, the purpose of this study is to determine the impact of teacher ethnicity on
student performance in grades 6 – 12 on English Language Arts and Reading and Math Texas
Assessment Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) Test and to determine if the same is true when
controlling for urbanicity. Guiding this research are four key questions:
RQ 1:
What is the effect of the teachers’ ethnicity on the performance of minority
middle school students on the TAKS Math and English Language Arts Test?
RQ 2:
Is the effect the same when urbanicity is taken into account?
RQ 3:
What is the effect of the teachers’ ethnicity on the performance of minority
high school students on the TAKS Math and English Language Arts Test?
RQ 4:
Is the effect the same when urbanicity is taken into account?
Five themes emerge from the literature (1) hiring a diverse faculty, (2) the effects of minority
staff on students, (3) teacher, race, and student achievement, (4) teachers’ perceptions of
students, and (5) urbanicity.
With Critical Race Theory (CRT) as the framework, tenet four,
differential racialization/experiential knowledge will drive this research. In order to validate or
nullify my assumptions, the four hypotheses will be tested by utilizing data from The Texas
Education Agency (TEA).
Date: ___April 24, 2015__________ Department: Educational Leadership and Counseling
Time: __10:00 AM_____________
Location/Room: ___DELCO 240_______________
Dissertation Chair: _______Douglas Hermond, PhD_.______________________________
Dissertation Committee Members: __Patricia A. Smith, Ed.D.____
___Aisha Asby, Ph.D._____
___Tyrone Tanner, Ed.D.________
Revised: May 14, 2012