A recent article in Diverse Issues in Higher Education highlighted a working paper by a UW–Madison faculty member that found Black and Hispanic students are less likely than white students to be taught by instructors of the same race in higher education settings.
Taylor Odle, an assistant professor in the School of Education’s Department of Educational Policy Studies, was the lead author on the working paper. It was published by the Annenberg Institute at Brown University.
The Diverse Issues in Higher Education article explained that the working paper used administrative data from Texas community college students to document how often students of certain racial groups were matched with instructors of the same race, what courses they were most likely to match in, and the differences in course outcomes for matched and unmatched courses. Previous studies have outlined the benefits of same-race instructor matching in K-12 and higher education settings, including better grades, school attendance, and graduation rates.
Odle’s working paper examined the experiences of more than 560,000 first year, first-time community college students and more than 32,000 instructors in Texas between 2013 and 2020. It found 77% of white students experienced a same-race match, compared to 29% of Hispanic students and 14% of Black students.
The paper also revealed an especially low rate of same-race instructor matching for racial minority students in foundational courses in reading and writing, as well as gateway classes like algebra.
In the Diverse Issues in Higher Education article, Odle recommended developing support programs for students who are racial minorities, so they can develop relationships with same-race teachers, even if they don’t take courses with them. He suggested offering course buyout opportunities for faculty who participate in such programs, to compensate for the additional work. He also recommended making students aware of courses taught by faculty of color, so students could enroll in those courses.
Read the full Diverse Issues in Higher Education article here.