Interesting book study tonight... The Washington Post did a story Friday on a study that covered the same topic -- although, the study seemed to be a bit narrower in scope (at least, by what the article highlighted). Here is a link:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/04/09/study-black-students-from-poor-families-are-more-likely-to-graduate-high-school-if-they-have-at-least-one-black-teacher/?utm_term=.58ba23fe54b9
I recently did a site visit to a school in Athens that had an overwhelmingly white staff with a very diverse student population (55% black, 30% white, and 10% hispanic). Working with the AP, nearly every behavioral concern was between a white teacher and a black child. Throughout the entire day, he probably saw about 15 students for various infractions (most small). One student was white and one was hispanic, but the rest were all black.
Its hard for me to not notice the cultural disconnect, but I wonder if that was the issue. And it stands to reason, if these students are getting into more trouble than their white counterparts, then black students are also not doing as well academically as they could be. According to the basis of the article, this issue would improve dramatically if the school system simply hired a more diverse staff. However, I look at my own school in Gwinnett which has a very diverse staff, and I am not sure that we are doing much better than the Athens school in dealing with behavior or academics.
I do not propose to have the solution, but color is certainly not the only issue.
I can see how having a diverse faculty to reflect the diverse student population could result is fewer discipline referrals. I agree with you Ron in that the issue of the cultural disconnect would improve if they hired a more diverse staff. I see this as a leadership problem if there is a lack of diversity on the staff in a predominantly black student body. The diversity of the staff, in my opinion should mirror that of the students.
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