Observations of teacher behavior in desegrated reading groups

Abstract

Despite concern about the effectiveness of biracial schooling, there is little research which delineates what actually happens in desegrated classrooms. To generate information where the scientific knowledge base is limited, 10 second-grade teachers (five black and five white) were observed. The question raised was: In a sequence of teaching behaviors for reading groups, what are the proportions of positive and negative behaviors directed toward black and white children? In summing the behavior of all 10 teachers, the proportions of positive and negative behaviors directed toward black and white children were remarkably similar to the ethnic composition of the sample, yet these undifferentiated results did not hold for groups of black or white teachers. In addition to group differences, sketches of an individual white and a black teacher are presented, including observation results and data from a standardized interview of social distance.