This study just found that students do better in classrooms where a teacher's race matches their own

Teacher and student.
(Image credit: iStock.)

A new study has found that it's easier to look up to someone if they look like you. That was the conclusion from a survey of over 80,000 public school students across six states, which asked students in grades four through eight to evaluate their teachers.

Researchers evaluated how black, white, and Hispanic students in the same classroom perceived their teachers, finding that race plays a significant factor in teacher-student relationships. Students were more likely to care about schoolwork and displayed an interest in higher education if the teacher's race matched their own. Students with teachers whose race did not match their own exhibited opposite characteristics, which researchers attributed to the idea that students had a more difficult time seeing a teacher of a different race as a role model.

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Elianna Spitzer

Elianna Spitzer is a rising junior at Brandeis University, majoring in Politics and American Studies. She is also a news editor and writer at The Brandeis Hoot. When she is not covering campus news, Elianna can be found arguing legal cases with her mock trial team.q