Professional Staff Diversity and Student Outcomes
Extending Our Understanding of Race/Ethnicity-Matching Effects in Education
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9730539 |
|---|---|
| Authors | FRANCISCO LAGOS (0000-0002-8932-5287, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC, corresponding author), David Blazar (0000-0001-5596-1552, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-26 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Educational Researcher (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0013-189X • E-ISSN: 1935-102X |
| Publisher | American Educational Research Association (AERA) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.3102/0013189x261434481 |
| OpenAlex | W7140416021 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 41 |
Studies consistently show that minoritized students benefit from having a teacher of the same race/ethnicity. We extend this literature by examining educational impacts of exposure to same-race/ethnicity professional staff, including administrators, instructional coaches, guidance counselors, and special education specialists. Students interact with these staff less frequently than teachers, yet staff of color may also serve as role models, support culturally relevant practices, and help prevent discrimination. Using within-student and within-school variation in statewide Maryland data, we find that higher shares of same-ethnicity staff improve test scores and modestly reduce suspensions for Hispanic students. For Black students, exposure to non-Black, non-White professionals of color is associated with higher English language arts performance, although these effects are smaller—about one-fifth the size of teacher effects
Cultural diversity · Diversity (politics · Higher education · Language arts · Professional development · Test (biology · The arts · Variation (astronomy · Critical Race Theory in Education · Education Discipline and Inequality · School Choice and Performance
Moving to a World Beyond “ p < 0.05”
Defining and redirecting a school‐to‐prison pipeline
A Teacher Like Me
Representation in the classroom
The Long-Run Impacts of Same-Race Teachers
Exposure to Same-Race Teachers and Student Disciplinary Outcomes for Black Students in North Carolina
The Added Value of Latinx and Black Teachers for Latinx and Black Students
The Effects of Teacher Match on Students’ Academic Perceptions and Attitudes
Who believes in me? The effect of student–teacher demographic match on teacher expectations
Valued Segregated Schools for African American Children in the South, 1935-1969
The Evolution of Deficit Thinking
Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth
Does Cheaper Mean Better? The Impact of Using Adjunct Instructors on Student Outcomes
Teachers, Race, and Student Achievement in a Randomized Experiment
Multilevel governance and organizational performance
Beyond role models
Ethnic Matching, School Placement, and Mathematics Achievement of African American Students From Kindergarten Through Fifth Grade
Teachers' Perceptions and Expectations and the Black-White Test Score Gap
Classroom Management in Diverse Classrooms
Why Black Teachers Matter
A Kindergarten Teacher Like Me
Examining Teacher–Child Relationships and Achievement as Part of an Ecological Model of Development
There Is No “Race” in the Schoolyard
The Impact of Demographic Representation on Absences and Suspensions
Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans
Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
| Highly cited | No |
|---|