Teacher-student interactions and race in integrated classrooms

The treatment of African American students and Caucasian American students in middle schools by Caucasian American female teachers during 32 hr of instruction in integrated classrooms was investigated. Data revealed that African American students as a group were not treated as favorably by their teachers as were Caucasian American students. Teachers interacted more positively with American Caucasian students according to nearly all 16 dependent variables of a modified version of the Brophy-Good Dyadic Coding System. Caucasian American boys, relative to all other students, received the most favorable treatment and initiated the most student-teacher contact. Conversely, African American boys, among all the groups studied, received the least favorable treatment from their teachers.