THE INFLUENCE
OF CAUCASIAN TEACHERS
ON NEGRO AND CAUCASIAN
STUDENTS IN SEGREGATED AND
RACIALLY-MTXED INNER-CITY SCHOOLS

A Thesis for the Degree of Ed,D,
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

JOSEPH H. McMILLAN

1967

NW”NINTHNINTH Marga”

1293 00682 2336

University

 

I

This is to certify that the

thesis entitled
THE INFLUENCE OF CAUCASIAN TEACHERS ON NEGRO
AND CAUCASIAN STUDENTS IN SEGREGATED AND
RACIALLY-HIXED II‘JNER—CITY SCHOOLS
/’ I presented by

Joseph H. McIinllan

has been accepted towards fulfillment ,
of the requirements for

‘J.

_Ed.n._degree 111mm

fl‘“/VM

Maior professor ( W
Date Q‘A—(J 1% / I
«7

0-169 .

 

 

 

 

Assume?

THE INFLUENCE OF CAUCASIAN TEACHERS ON NEGRO AND CAUCASIAN
STUDENTS IN SEGREGATED AND RACIALLY—NIXED INNER-CITY SCHOOLS

by Joseph H. McMillan

This investigation was an exploratory study to determine if the
racial composition of a school had a differential effect upon teacher
influence on sixth grade students in sixteen lowerbclass schools of
an urban midwestern community. More specifically this research focused
on the differential on teacher influence of schools categorized as
predominantly Negro, raciallyamixed, and predominantly white. ,The
major independent variable in the study Was the racial composition
of the school. The major control variables were student socio—economic
status, student race, and school social class composition. The indices
of teacher influence were: (1) the association between perceived teacher
evaluations and self concept of academic ability, (2) the association
between perceived teacher evaluation and grade-point average, (3) the
association between perceived teacher achievement preferences and
achievement aspirations, and (A) the association between perceived
teacher achievement preferences and grade-point average.

Drawn from the theoretical orientation, symbolic interactionism,

the major hypothesis was that the magnitude of teacher influence would

Joseph H. McMillan

be greater in predominantly white schools than in racially—mixed schools,
which would in turn, be greater than the magnitude of teacher influence
in predominantly Negro schools.

The pOpulation included all of the Negro and Caucasian sixth
grade students with Caucasian teachers in sixteen lower class inner_
city schools of an urban school system.in the midwest. There were
438 students, 260 Caucasian and 178 Negro, included in the analysis.
Findings: Racial Composition of the School and
Its Effects on Major Indices of Teacher Influence

l. The association between perceived teacher evaluations
and self concept of academic ability was greater for Caucasian students
with Caucasian teachers in predominantly white innerbcity schools than
in racially-mixed innerhcity schools.

2. The association between perceived teacher evaluations
and self concept of academic ability was not greater for Caucasian
students with Caucasian teachers in racially—mixed innerhcity schools
than in predominantly Negro innerbcity schools.

3. The association between perceived teacher evaluations
and self concept of academic ability was not greater for Caucasian
students with Caucasian teachers in predominantly white innerhcity schools.

4. The assdciation between perceived teacher evaluations and
self concept of academic ability was greater for Negro students with
Caucasian teachers in racially-mixed innerbcity schools than in

predominantly white inneracity schools.

Joseph H. MCMillan

5. The association between perceived teacher evaluations
and grade-point average was not greater for Caucasian students with
Caucasian teachers in predominantly white innerbcity schools than
in racially-mixed innerbcity schools.

6. The association between perceived teacher evaluations
and grade-point average was greater for Caucasian students with
Caucasian teachers in racially-mixed innerbcity schools than in
predominantly Negro innerbcity schools.

7. The association between perceived teacher evaluations
and grade-point average was greater for Caucasian students with
Caucasian teachers in predominantly white innerhcity schools than
in predominantly Negro innerbcity schools.

8. The association between perceived teacher evaluation
and grade-point average was greater for Negro students with
Caucasian teachers in racially—mixed innerbcity schools than in
predominantly Negro inner-city schools.

Finding_; Racial Composition of the School

and Its Effects on Other Related Indices
of Teacher Influence

 

l. The association between perceived teacher achievement
preferences and achievement aspirations was greater for Caucasian
teachers with Caucasian students in predominantly white innerbcity
schools than.in racially-mixed inner-city schools.

2. The association between perceived teacher achievement

preferences and achievement aspirations was not greater for Caucasian

Joseph H. McMillan

teachers with Caucasian students in racially-mixed innerhcity schools
than in predominantly Negro innerucity schools.

3. The association between perceived teacher achievement
preferences and achievement aspirations was greater for Caucasian
students with Caucasian teachers in predominantly white inner-city
schools than in predominantly Negro innerbcity schools.

A. The association between perceived teacher achievement
preferences and achievement aspirations was not greater for Negro
students with Caucasian teachers in raciallyamixed inner-city schools
than in predominantly Negro inner-city schools.

5. The association between perceived teacher achievement
preferences and grade-point average was greater for Caucasian students
with Caucasian teachers in predominantly white innerbcity schools
than in racially—mixed inner-city schools.

6. The association between perceived teacher achievement
preferences and grade-point average was greater for Caucasian students
with Caucasian teachers in racially-mixed innerbcity schools than in
predominantly Negro inner-city schools.

7. The association between perceived teacher achievement
preferences and grade-point average was greater for Caucasian students
with Caucasian teachers in predominantly white innerbcity schools
than in predominantly Negro innerbcity schools.

8. The association between perceived teacher achievement
preferences and grade-point average was greater for Negro students in
racially-mixed innerbcity schools than in predominantly Negro innerbcity

schools.

Joseph H. McMillan

Major Conclusions

Although further testing for confirmation is required this
investigation has revealed that the racial composition of the school
does have an effect on teacher influence which is distinct from that
of the social class composition of the school.

It is also concluded that racially-mixing a school does not
impair or weaken the magnitude of teacher influence or the achievement

level of Negro or Caucasian students.

THE INFLUENCE OF CAUCASIAN TEACHERS ON NEGRO AND CAUCASIAN

STUDENTS IN SEGREGATED AND RACIALLY-NIXED INNER-CITY SCHOOLS

By 4
'\

_ '\
(~

Joseph Hf McMillan

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

College of Education
Department of Elementary and Special Education

1967

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author eXpresses his appreciation and gratitude fer the
aid and assistance given by Dr. W. vernon Hicks, Chairman of the
Guidance Committee, during the past four years. Also Drs. Calhoun Collier
and William.Durr are due thanks for their assistance as members of the
Guidance Committee.

Dr. Wilbur Brookover, Thesis Director, has not only been an
inspiration to the author but also has contributed greatly to this
research. Association with Dr. Brookover has been a significant event
in the author's doctoral studies.

Special thanks are extended to Dr. Edsel Erickson, now a.member
of the staff at western.Michigan University, for his ideas, friendship,
personal counseling, and technical help.

Also this author wishes to thank his wife, Mildred, and his
children, Charles, Diane, Michael, Dwight, and Joseph Jr. Without
their continued support and understanding this study would never have
been completed.

Finally, thanks is extended to the author's mother, Lillian McMillan,

for her prayers and general encouragement.

ii

TABLE OF COI‘QTENTS

ACKIJON‘VWT'MHS o o o o o o o o o o o o o 0

LIST OF
LIST OF
Chapter

I.

II.

III.

TABIES O O O O O O 0 O O O 0 O O O

APPH‘JDICESoooooooooooo

Tr-AE PROBE II 0 O O O O O 0 O O O O 0

Need

Research Objectives and Purpose .
Importance of the Study . . . . .
Limitations of the Study

REVIEN OF LITT'ZRATURE e o o o o o 0

SW 0 O O O O 0 O O O O O O O
[mommy O O O O O O O O O O O 0

Major Racial Categories of Schools

POpulations . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Instrumentation and School Records Data

Data Collection Procedures
Statistical Procedures

Summary

RESEARCH FINDINGS . . . . . . . . . . . .

Racial Composition of the School and Its
Effect on Major Indices of Teacher Influence

Racial Composition of the School and Its

Theoretical Background and Basic Questions
Theoretical Issues - Dependent variables

Effect on Other Related Indices of Teacher Influence.

iii

Page

ii

146

53

V. SUI‘v'lI‘JTARY AND CONCLUSIONS . . . . .

Summary of Research Objectives

Summary of Methodology

Sumnary of Research Findings

Discussion of Findings

Conclusions . .
Implications .
Limitations . .
Recomendations

BIBLImHAPhY........

APPENDICES.........

iv

Table

3.1

3.2

3.3

3.4
4.1

4.2

N.3

A.“

LIST OF TABLES

Numbers of sixth grade Negro and Caucasian students with
Caucasian teachers in schools which are predominantly
Negro, racially-mixed, and predominantly white (16
poverty-area innerbcity schools) . . . . . . . . . . .

Hoyt's analysis of variance reliability coefficients for
perceived evaluations of academic ability scales,
grades 8-12, longitudinal study . . . . . . . . . . .

Student SES mean scores of schools of varying racial
composition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Summary of correlations used in the analysis . . . . . .

Correlations between perceived teacher evaluations and
self concept of academic ability for Negro and
Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers . . . . . .

Correlations between perceived teacher evaluations and
grade-point average for Negro and Caucasian students
with Caucasian teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Kendall-Tau rank correlations between perceived teacher
achievement preferences and achievement aspirations
for Negro and Caucasian students with Caucasian
teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Kendall-Tau rank correlations between perceived teacher
achievement preferences and achievement aspirations
for Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers . . . .

Page

30

38

“3
“5

“9

51

55

57

LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix

A.

Tables Indicating Racial Composition of Schools
in @118 StUdy 0 O O 0 O 0 O O O O O O O O O 0 0 O O O

Instrument: Self Concept of Academic Ability
FomD O O 0 0 O O O 0 0 O O O O O O O O 0 O O O O

Instrument: Perceived Teacher Evaluations . . . . . .
Instrument: Perceived Teacher Achievement Preferences.
Instrument: Achievement Aspirations . . . . . . . . .

Table of Means and Standard Deviations of Major
variables irl [1117118 StUdy O O O O 0 O O O O O O 0 O O 0

vi

Page

79

82
814
86
88

90

CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM

Need

 

Is the racial composition of a school likely to be a relevant
condition affecting the influence of teachers on students? This study
examines the relationships between student perceptions of teacher
expectations and student characteristics under conditions of school
racial composition.

Although prior research has focused on the association between
students' socio—economic status level and school performance, very
few investigations have examined the impact of the schools' social
class level on student or teacher behaviors.l

Recently social scientists have recognized the need for studying
the class status of schools. Herriot and St. John,2 for example,
examined the influence of the socio—economic status levels of schools
on teachers and students. In their research, however, the racial
composition of the school, a status characteristic in many corrmunities
and the independent variable in this study, was not Specifically taken

into account. With considerable insight and clarity they pointed to

 

1Robert C. Herriot and Nancy H. St. John, Social Class and the
Urban School: The Impact of Pupil Background on Teachers and Principals,
New York: John C. Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1958, p."A-l2.

2Ibid.

the need for research which focuses on conditions of school racial
composition under which expected relationships between socio—economic
status levels of schools and educational outcomes may appear.

In the recent report, Racial Isolation in the Public Schools,
the social class composition of schools was feund to have a strong
relationship between the attitudes and achievement of students.3

This finding was a corroboration of the earlier report, Equality of

 

Educational Opportunity.“ In the latter report Coleman concludes
empirically that the social composition of the student body is:more
highly related to achievement, independently of the student's own
social background than is any other school factor.5

Both of these reports, which are drawn from the same fund of
nationwide data on student achievement and attitudes, show a relationship
between student perfbrmance and the racial composition of schools
which also apparently is distinct from considerations either of school

social class or school quality.6

In this research, however, only
comparisons are made between social class composition of schools and
school racial mix as racial composition of the schools is examined

under the rubric of social class composition of the schools.

 

3Racial Isolation in the Public Schools, a report of the U. S.
Commission on Civil Rights, washington: U. S. Government Printing
Office, 1967, p. 86.

14James H. Coleman, et al., Equality of Educational Opportunity,
U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Washington: U. S.
Government Printing Office, 1966.

51o:o., p. 325.

6Racial Isolation in the Public Schools, op. cit., p. 100.

As pointed out in the appendices to the report, Racial Isolation

in the Public Schools, "This is because the tables present the racial

 

proportions of the classroom together with the social class level of
the school. Holding constant the social class composition of the
schools with a number of measures does not affect the relationship
between the racial composition of the class and achievement. The
tables suggest that no matter what the student composition of the
school, the characteristics of the other students in the class are
strongly related to a student's academic performance. And to the
extent that school measures adequately separate students into subgroups
where the social class of their fellow students is alike, the residual
relationship between racial composition of classmates and achievement
can be attributed to racial desegregation in contrast to social
class desegregation."7 In this study only a residual relationship
between racial composition of the class and achievement was found.

However, in the Coleman report the regression analysis em-
ployed did not reveal a very large residual relation between racial
composition and achievement after differences in the social class
composition of classmates had been taken into account. The result
was stated:

"The higher achievement of all racial and ethnic groups

in schools with greater prOportion of white students

is largely, perhaps wholly, related to effects associated
with the student body's educational background and

 

7Appendices to Racial Isolation ig,the Public Schools, Vblume 2
of a Report by the U. S. Commission on Civil Rights, washington:
U. S. Government Printing Office, 1967, p. N1.

aspirations. This means that the apparent beneficial

effect of a student body with a high prOportion of

white students comes not from racial composition,

per se, but from the better educational background

and higher educational aspirations thgt are, on the

average, found among white students."

None of these studies cited above allowed for an adequate test
of the importance of racial composition on Negro student perfbrmance,
independent of the social class composition of the school. Thus
there is a need for research which focuses on racial composition
of schools, controlling for school social class composition, and its
relationship to teacher influence and student characteristics.

In a recent Review of Edugational Research, Sanborn and wassong
elaborated upon educational outcomes and economic disadvantagement.
They stated that very little research has been done to describe the
relationships between school staff members and children of disadvantaged
subcultures.lo Implied in this review of research is the need to
understand not only the influence which teachers may have on the
learning of disadvantaged students, but also to understand their
relative influences under varying school conditions.

One important question, commonly discussed but seldom researched,

concerns the impact of the teachers on Negro and Caucasian students

in lower class innerbcity schools.

 

8Coleman, op. cit., p. 307.

9Marshall P. Sanborn and Robert M. wasson, "Guidance of Students
with Special Characteristics," Review of Educational Research, Vbl. XXXVI,
No. 2, (April, 1966), 308-322.

lOIbid.

The thesis of this study is that the racial composition of
the school is an important status characteristic which affects the
teachers' influence. Stereotyping of schools on the basis of racial
composition has been considered by many to be an important factor
in the behavior of teachers, students, and others.

On the basis of a thorough review of the literature to this
date there is very little empirical evidence to support this thesis.
Thus, this study was based on that need to examine the effects of

racial imbalance on teachers' influence in the school.

Theoretical Background and Basic Questions

Racial Composition - Independent Variable

In this study the major theoretical assumption is that an
individual's expectations of another person depends upon the
individual's categorization of that other as belonging to a particular
social category, e.g., man, doctor, or Negro. This position is in

11 and Becker12 both

accord with and elaborates the views of Goffiman
of whom emphasize role expectations as they relate to social categories.

Categorization, such as stigmatizing as termed by Goffman, exerts
its influence in overt and subtle fashion. One can directly categorize

on the basis of personal cues, e.g., color of skin, or one can cate-

 

11Erving Gofflnan, Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled
Identity, (Ehglewood Cliffs: Prentice HaIl,T963).

l2Howard Becker, The Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of
Deviance, (Lovelon: Free Press of Glencoe, 1963).

gorize others on the basis of their being members of a particular
school or institution. This is analagous to Goffman's discussion
of personal and social identity.13
For example, if the stereotype of a school as a "Negro"
school includes meanings of academic inferiority, the Negro and
white students in that school are likely to be the recipients of
low academic eXpectation. This assumption was clinically corroborated
at the recent civil rights hearings on the effects of racial isolation
in public schools.
"At commission hearings parents and teachers often
testified that predominantly Negro schools are
stigmatized institutions . . . Dr. Charles Pinderhughes,
a psychiatrist, who testified at the Boston hearing,
said that the Negro school carries with it a stigma
that influences the attitudes both on the part of
students and teachers . . ."lu
All Negro or predominantly Negro schools may be looked upon by
the community as poor schools. No matter what is done to improve
the quality of such schools the predominantly Negro racial composition
of the school may conjure up a negative label. As pointed out in
the above-cited civil rights report:
"Racially isolated schools, then, generally are regarded
by the community as inferior institutions. The stigma
attached to such schools affects the attitudes of both

students and teachers. Students sense the community
attitudes and the fact that their teachers often expect

 

13Goffinan, op. cit .

l“Racial Isolation in the Public Schools, Vol. 1, a report of
the U. S._Commission on Civil Rights (Washington, D.C.: U. S. Government
Printing Office, 1967, p. 104).

little of them. The combination of poor performance and

low expectations reinforces their sense of futility and

their image in teachers' minds as children who cannot

learn. The negative attitudes and poor perfbrmance of

Negro children in isolated schools accumulate over time,

making a successful interrUption of the process increas-

ingly difficult. They carry over into adult life and _

are reflected there in levels of income and occupation."15

On the other hand, if the identification of a school as a
"white" school carries with it meanings of academic superiority,
the Caucasian and Negro students in that school may benefit from high
academic expectations. This hypothesis is cogently supported by
findings in the reports, Racial Isolation in the Public Schools16
and Equality of Educational Opportunity.17 For example, in the
Civil Rights Commission Report comparisons show that when relatively
disadvantaged Negro students are in class with a.majority of similarly
disadvantaged white students their performance is higher than when
they are in a class with a majority of equally disadvantaged Negroes.
A similar relationship obtains for more advantaged Negro students
when those in school with similarly advantaged Negroes are compared
with those in school with similarly advantaged whites.l8

Although the above research findings suggest a relationship

between influences of teachers and the racial composition of schools

 

15Racial Isolation in the Public Schools, Op. cit., p. 109.

l6;§;§,, p. 91. For a discussion of this finding, see
p. 89-114 of above cited report.

6 17James H. Coleman, et al., Equality of Educational Opportunity_3
(196 ).

l8Racial Isolation in theyPublic Schools, op. cit., p. 91.

they do not, however, eXplain it. In this study the student's race
socio-economic status and the social class composition of his school
will be controlled so that the independent effect of racial composition

of the school on teacher influence can be measured.

Theoretical Issues - Dependent variables

Prior research has established the relevance of perceived
evaluations and expectations of others for affecting selfeconceptions
of ability. Specifically, recent research has indicated that there
is a relationship between selfeconcept of ability in school and
academic achievement as well as between self-concept of ability and

perceived evaluations by others.19

Subsequent research has confirmed the hypothesis that a student's
educational plan level is likely to be dependent upon his conception
of educational eXpectations held for him by "significant others."20
Moreover, numerous research findings by Brookover and associates
have demonstrated that self-concepts of ability of students are associ-
ated.with their perceptions of how significant others evaluate them.

*Teacher influence will be Operationally defined in a subsequent
chapter on methodology.

 

l9Wilbur B. Brookover, et al., "Self Concept of Ability and
School Achievement," Sociology of Education, XXXVII (1964), 271—278.

 

20Edsel Erickson, Lee Joiner, Corwin Krugh, and Natalie Sproull,
"Perceptions of the Educational Expectations of Others and Educational
Plans: A Longitudinal Study of High School Males," reported in
Education Research Series, No. 36, Cooperative Research Project 2831,

February, 1967, 303-316.

The general hypothesis is that the functional limit of one's ability
are in part set by one's selfhconcept of ability which is acquired
through interaction with others.

The theoretical framework in which these findings are couched
is derived from a symbolic interactional theory of behavior as espoused
by George Herbert Mead21 and articulated by Wilbur B. Brookover and

22 This orientation stresses the influences of others in

associates.
role decisions. Students and teachers, from.this perspective, would
react toward each other in terms of how each can be expected to behave.
According to Brookover, "the student acquires by taking the role of
the other, a perception of his own ability as a learner of the various
types of skills and subjects which constitute the school curriculum."23
Thus, it is not necessarily the actual behavior of others which

determines an individual's actions. Rather it is the individual's

 

21George Herbert Mead, Mind Self and Society (Chicago: University

of Chicago Press, 193A) 138-22 . "The individual experiences himself
as such, not directly, but only indirectly, from.the particular
standpoints of other individual members of the same social group, or
from.the generalized standpoint of the social group as a whole to
which he belongs. For he enters his own experience as a self or
individual not directly or immediately, not by becoming a subject to
himself, but only insofar as he first becomes an object to himself
only by taking the attitudes of other individuals toward him within
a social environment or context of experience and behavior in which
both he and they are involved."

22Wilbur B. Brookover and David Gottlieb, A Sociology,of Edup
cation, (2nd Edition, New York: American Book Company, 1964).

23Ibid., p. M69.

10

interpretation of the eXpectation and acts of others which determines
an individual's actions.2u

However, social conditions which affect the magnitude of observed
associations between perceived teacher evaluations and selfbconcept,
perceived teacher educational aspirations and student plans, perceived
teacher educational aspirations and student aspirations, perceived
academic expectation levels of teacher and student academic achievement
aspirations are not fully known.

The guiding thesis of this study is that the racial composition

of the school will differentially affect each of these dependent variables.

Research Objectives and Purpose

 

The major research objective is to determine how racial dominance
in lower class schools will affect the magnitudes of association between
student perceptions of teacher expectations and various student char-
acteristics.

There are four major dependent variables, each an inferential
index of the magnitude of relative teacher influence on student
characteristics. These are the relative associations between: (1) perk
ceived teacher evaluations and self concept of ability; (2) perceived
teacher evaluations and grade-point average; (3) perceived teacher
achievement preferences and achievement aspirations; (A) perceived

teacher achievement preferences and grade-point average. In other

 

2“Wilbur B. Brookover, Edsel L. Erickson and Lee M. Joiner,
"Self Concept of Ability and School Achievement 3," final report on
COOperative Research Project 2831.

11

words, the magnitudes of these correlations will vary by the independent
variable of racial status of the school ("white", "Negro", or "racially-
mixed"). The major control variables are student's race, socio-economic
status, and the social class level of the school. Student sex and
measured intelligence were not statistically controlled, but they

were evenly distributed throughout the racial categories.

Major Hypothesis

 

In this study research has specifically focused on sixth grade
Negro and Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers in the innerhcity
of a.midwest urban community. On the basis of the previous discussion
and other findings in Chapter II, Review of Literature, the following
general hypothesis is made:

Sixth grade students, both Negro and Caucasian, will

exhibit greater magnitudes of association between

perceived teacher characteristics and student

characteristics in "predominantly white" innerbcity

schools than in "racially-mixed" schools, which

in turn will be greater than in "predominantly

Negro" schools.

A restatement of this hypothesis is that the magnitude of these
correlations will be greater in "predominantly white" and "racially-
mixed" schools than in "predominantly Negro" schools and greater
in "predominantly white" than in "racially-mixed" schools.

Exploratory questions dealt within this study concern comparisons
of Negro students in "white" schools in contrast to Caucasian students

in "Negro" schools, etc. and the differences in the characteristics

of students and teachers in each type of school.

l2

Importance of the Study

 

The significance of this study is that it provides a more
definitive examination of the relevance of schools of similar socio-
economic status which are labelled according to racial composition.

In this way a contribution is made to the social science literature
pertaining to social status as a useful construct. Most other
investigations have feund significant correlations between social
class or socio—economic status and pupil academic performance but
generally have treated socio—economic status or social class separately
from.school racial composition. Usually racial composition of the
school was not controlled fer in such studies. Thus, in essence,
these studies have attempted to eXplain away effects of racial
composition of schools on student and teacher characteristics. If
they discover effects of racial composition such effects are described
as being merely spurious.25

For educators and other decision makers, if segregated and
nonsegregated innerbcity schools have differential impact on teacher
influence on Caucasian and Negro students important decisions may be
made with greater confidence by school administrators, many of whom
are simultaneously concerned with the issues of school desegregation

and compensatory education.

 

25Herriot and St. John, op. cit., p. 180.

13

School systems throughout the country are faced with tremendous
problems which are incident to racial isolation. Indeed, as indicated
in a previously cited report by Coleman, the great majority of'American
children attend schools that are largely segregated. Many school
systems are launching school desegregation projects via changing
feeder patterns, changing boundary lines, bussing children, and estab-
lishing educational parks. Most of these decisions regarding school
desegregation have been.made without supporting research evidence.
Hopefully, this research will provide school personnel with programmatic
infermation.which can be used in reaching decisions regarding school
desegregation.

Moreover, the findings of this study will aid school personnel
who are concerned with the attendant problems of teacher recruitment,
teacher placement and assignment, and teacher transfer.

Furthermore, this study will provide school personnel with
information regarding the effects of racial composition of schools
of similar socio—economic status level, an often overlooked factor

by those concerned with school integration.

limitations of the Study

One of the major limitations of this inquiry lies in the sample
of schools, students and school staff.
Although all of the sixth grade students in sixteen innerbcity

schools were studied, the schools in this city may or may not be

IA

typical of other cities in the urban north. Therefore, generalizations
from this study should be made with caution.

Also the small number of Negro children in schools of the
racial category, "predominantly white", was sufficient only for
very tentative conclusions.

In addition, while several relevant controls were applied, it
was not possible to control for teacher social class, teacher job
satisfaction, teacher morale, all of which may bear on teacher influence.
Also there were no controls for teacher quality, school quality and

effects due to different school facilities and curricula.

CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Research in the area of social class and education has
traditionally been fecused upon associations between socio-
economic status level and teacher attitudes. Many well known
studies have provided evidence that teachers tend to promote
and perpetuate "middle class norms."

In a classic study, Who Shall Be Educated?: The Challenge
of Unequal Opportunitiesl Warner, Havighurst and Loch found that
"middle class norms" are used to screen out lower class children
who do not conferm.to the "middle class" standards of the school.
"The American School . . . reflects the socio—economic order in
everything that it does; in what it teaches, whom.it teaches, who
does the teaching, who does the hiring and firing of the teachers
and what the children learn in and out of the classroom."2

The authors conclude that the American schools have a social
class screening device which generally keeps upward.mobility fer

lower class children at a.minimum.

 

1w. Lloyd Warner, Robert J. Havighurst and Martin Loeb,
Who Shall Be Educated?: The Challenge of Unequal Opportunities,
(New York: Harper and Row, 19AM), p. 11.

2Ibid.

15

16

"This book describes how our schools, fUnctioning
in a society with basic inequalities facilitates
the rise of a few from lower to higher levels but
continued to serve the social class system by
keeping down.many peOple who try for higher places.
The teacher, the school administrator, the school
board, as well as the students, play their roles to
hold peOple in their places in our structure."3

This study has been corroborated by investigations by Warner

A Rich5 and Davis.6

and Bailey,
The fact that teachers increasingly come from lower class
groups does not suggest a change in this "middle class orientation."
Patricia Sexton feund that while teachers may come from.lower class
backgrounds they tend to identify with upper-income groups] Brookover8
corroborated this finding in an earlier study.
There appears to be much.more to this problem.than the orien-

tation of the teacher per se. Burton9 found that . . . "many

 

3Ibid., p. 11.

“W. Lloyd warner and Wilfred C. Bailey, Democracy in Jonesville,
(New York: Harper, 1949).

5John Rich, "How Social Class values Affect Teacher-Pupil
Relations," Journal of Educational Sociology.

6Allison Davis, Social Class Influences Upon Learning,
(Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1952).

7Patricia Sexton, Education and Income, (New York: The Viking
Press, 1961).

8Wilbur B. Brookover, "Teachers and the Stratification of
American.Society," Harvard Educational Review, XXIII (l953),p. 257-667.

9William H. Burton, "Educational and Social Class in the
United States," Harvard Educational Review, volume 23, No. A, Fall, 1953.

17

teachers cannot communicate with lower class children and have no

idea of the beliefs and motives of the children. Furthermore, he

coupled this problem with the finding that ". . . . many lower class

children do not value the objectives and processes of the school."
Undoubtedly, as emphasized above, social class differences

between teachers and students exist and these differences are

relevant for understanding teacherbstudent relationships. Unfortu-

nately, however, social class as an eXplanatory variable has been

overemphasized with examining conditions which modify the impact of

class. Granted, the lower the social class or socio-economic status

of students the greater the prOportion of students who do not achieve

at higher levels in school. However, as found in a study by Brookover,lo

a large prOportion of lower class children do achieve well within

the school system. In this study it was discovered that more than

thirty percent of students from the lower socio—economic stratum were

high achievers. As he concluded, in spite of the limited educational

attainment and lower occupational status of their parents, a sizable

proportion of students from lowerhclass families are excelling in

school. In fact many of these who do fail, may fail for reasons

outside of the "middle class" bias of the school.11

This warrants a movement away from research which simply relates

individual social class level to school performance. What

 

loWilbur B. Brookover and David Gottlieb, Sociology of
Education, New York: American Book Company, 196“.

llIbid.

18

is needed is research which helps us to distinguish between lower
class children who achieve from lower class children who do not
achieve. This stance has recently been taken in the research of
Gross and Herriotl2 and Herriot and St. John13 where family social
class characteristics are examined under conditions of the socio-
economic status level of the school. From their perspectives a
lower class student in a school of lower socio—economic status
might be expected to have different experiences than a lower class
student in a school of middle or upper socio-economic status.

Herriot and St. Johnlu

report that the socio-economic composition
of the school has a differential impact upon the characteristics,
attitudes, and behavior of students, teachers, and principals.

"A very large percentage of a long list of characteristics of
parents and pupils were found to vary significantly and, fer the
most part, monotonically by school SES, while the direction of the
variation is without exception to the disadvantage of pUpils in
schools of low SES."15 This finding was corroborated by Wilsonl6
in a recent study in a single Califbrnia community and Coleman17

in a.massive nationwide study.

 

12Neal Gross and Robert E. Herriot, Staff Leadership in
Public Schools, New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1965.

13Robert E. Herriot and Nancy H. St. John, Social Class and
the Urban.School, New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1966.

 

l"Ibid.

15Ibid., p. 204.

16AlanWilson, "Educational Consequences of Segregation in
a Califbrnia Community" in app. C-3 (volume II of report, Racial
Isolation in the Public Schools, washington, D.C.: U. S. Government
Printing Office (1967), 165-206.

17Coleman, op. cit., p. 307-310.

19

Although Herriot and St. John18 point out that the racial
composition and the socio-economic position of the school are so
closely interwined and correlated that there is no need to treat
them separately, they raise the question that the racial composition
of a school may in fact differentially impact behavior of a school's
pupils and staff. Using statistical techniques of zero order and
partial correlation they make the case that among schools variation
in the racial composition of enrolled pupils will not "explain away"
the observed relationships between socio-economic composition and

19

the many phenomena found to vary with it. However, they point out
parenthetically, "This is only one of the three variable models

which could be applied to study the effects of School Race on the
relationship between School SES and a selected dependent variable.
However, it is the one most crucial to the problem.under consideration.
we shall have to leave to future research the fascinating problem

of determining the conditions of School Race under which expected
relationships between School SES and the characteristics and behavior
of teachers and principals, which we have failed to find, may appear,
as well as the conditions under which relationships might be stronger

or weaker."2O

 

l8Herriot and St. John, 0p. cit., p. 210.

19Ibid., p. 18u.

201bid., p. 185.

20

In a recent report released by the United States Commission
on Civil Rights the same question was raised and discussed in the
following.manner:

"Thus far the racial composition of schools has not
been taken into account. Does it have a relationship
to perfbrmance which is distinct from that associated
with the social class composition of schools? Research
has not yet given clear answers to the question.

While serious performance differences between predom—
inantly Negro and predominantly white schools are
evident, there has been disagreement on whether the
differences are due entirely to factors associated

with the social class level of schools or whether
racial composition is an important additional factor.

"21
Although it was feund in this report that there was a residual
relationship between racial composition of the school and
achievement of students, racial composition is generally subsumed
under the rubric of social class composition of the schools. In
the appendices to this study the following finding was reported
by Wilson:
"The racial composition of a school, however, is
confOunded with its social class composition and
the various characteristics which link social class
to educational attainment."22
Thus it seems safe to assume that if one controls for
socio—economic status of schools the differential impact of racial
composition of schools, the independent variable, on selected
dependent variables can.be measured.
The Herriot and St. John investigation of the impact of

socio—economic composition of urban elementary schools on teachers

 

21Racial Isolation in the Public Schools, op. cit., p. 89-90.

22wilson, op. cit., p. 182.

21

and principals was based on the way in which these school personnel
viewed the principals and parents with whom they interact.23
However, in this study the major focus will be on student
perceptions of the expectations of Caucasian teachers in schools
of varying racial composition. As previously stated in the
theoretical framework and subsequent hypotheses the racial
categorization of schools will influence to a large extent the
expectations of teachers and the student perceptions of teacher
eXpectations. Such a view is consonant with the findings of

Gofftman,‘2u4 Becker,25 and Brookover26

who couched their investi-

gations in the framework of Meadean symbolic interactionist theory.
Another distinction, which is commonly recognized except

in the research literature, is the fact that teachers may have

entirely different attitudes toward lower class Caucasian immigrant

pupils than toward lower class Negro children. Often what is

passed under the rubrics of "upper", "middle", and "lower" class

conflict may be appropriately labelled as "race conflict."

 

23Herriot and St. John, op. cit., p. 203.

2“Erving Goffman, Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled
Identity, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1963. |

25Howard Becker, Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of
Deviance, London: Free Press of Glencoe, 1963.

26Wilbur Brookover and David Gottlieb, A Sociology_of Education,
New York: American Book Company, 196“.

22

As Gottlieb27 found in a study of teacher attitudes toward
Negro and white students in a midwestem urban community, Negro
and white teachers tend to define Negro students quite differently.
The Negro teachers tended to see the children as "happy," "energetic"
and "fun loving" while the white teachers were likely to see the
same children as "talkative," "lazy" and "rebellious."

Furthermore, Negro teachers were more satisfied with their
current teaching positions in the innerbcity than were the white
teachers. "The fact that Negro teachers are more likely than.white
teachers to come from.backgrounds similar to those of children of
the innerbcity probably tends to make themLmore realistic in their
expectations and hence less likely to be dissatisfied with their
current teaching roles."28

Moreover, Gottlieb29 in another study found that Negro high
school students, regardless of class, perceive a greater discrepancy
between their goals and those they believe are held by the teacher;
and.that socio—economically lowerbclass youth, eSpecially Negro youth,
are least likely to perceive their teachers as wanting to help them
reach their goals. Also Negro children in segregated schools in the
South perceived goal consensus between themselves and their teachers

more so than did Negro students in Nerthern interracial schools and

 

27David Gottlieb, "Teaching and Students: The Views of Negro
and'White Teachers," Sociology of Education, Vblume 37, (Summer, 196“),
345-353.

28Ibid., p. 349.

2911avid Gottlieb, "Goal Aspirations and Goal Fulfillment,"
American.Journal of Orthopsychiatry 3A, p. 93A-9Nl, October, 1964.

23

predominantly Negro schools.30 These findings allow us to infer

influence of teachers on students. If the goals between teachers
and students are disparate the lesser will be the influence of
teachers on students. Also these findings imply that the racial
category of a school as well as the geographic location of a school
influenced goal consensus between Negro students and their teachers.
Thus, it seems logical to assume that the racial composition of
a school may well influence eXpectations of Caucasian teachers and
in turn affect perceived evaluations of Negro and Caucasian students.
In this research the direction of this influence will be investigated.
Grambs31 corroborated the relevance of racial typing when she
found that prospective teachers might well express "good" tolerant
attitudes toward children of all groups in our society but that the
degree of acceptance drOpped markedly if the personal lives of these
future teachers were involved. She states, "Studies of their attitudes
toward children show that the Negro child is rated lowest in all

rankings of groups on a Bogardus-type social distance scale."

 

301bid.

31Jean Grambs, "Are we Training Prejudiced Teachers?"
School and Society, 1951.

2A

In summary, while socio-economic status and social class
are important variables to be considered, Davidson and Lang32 point
out that most research does not consider racial status. The most
disappointing gap, they contend, is in the area of the attitude
of the teacher in segregated and racially-mixed school situations.
AS Green33 related, "There are teachers who perceive an assignment
to an integrated school as an academic affliction." Such an
assignment is viewed as a loss in prestige. In fact, Green suggests
that the greater the prOportion of students in a school who are
Negro, the lower the school is ranked on the academic status pole.
Hence, racial composition may affect the education of students in
two ways: (1) the identification and stereotyping of a student
on the basis of his racial identity and; (2) the identification and
stereotyping of a student on the basis of being in a school with a

racial identity.

§ETT2§E

In this chapter the review of related literature has been
presented. Although the literature is replete with studies of the
relationship between social class or socio—economic status and

education most studies focus on the social class levels or socio-

 

32Helen Davidson and Gerhard Lang, "Children's Perceptions of
Their Teachers Feelings Toward Them Related to Self Perception, School
Achievement and Behavior," Journal of Experimental Education 29,
107-118, December, 1960.

33Robert L. Green, "After School Integration - What?: Problems
in School Learning," Personnel and Guidance Journal, V61. XLIV, No. 7,
March, 1966, p. 706.

 

25

economic status of the individual and its relationship to achievement,
intelligence or some similar educational factor. At the beginning of
this chapter attention was given to classic studies of this type.
However, there was a need to break away from these limited
and traditional research fOCl. Recent research has begun to investigate
and identify the relationship between the social class composition or
the socio—economic status of a school and its impact on relevant
educational factors. Research by Herriot and St. John was cited
as being typical of the recent trend to focus on the social class or
socio-economic composition of the school as the independent variable
which impacts characteristics, attitudes, and behavior of students,
teachers, and principals. Subsequent research by Wilson and Coleman
ostensibly point out the strong association between student aspirations
and academic achievement and the social class composition of schools.
In most of these investigations, however, attempts are not
made to control for the factor, racial composition of schools. School
Race in the Herriot and St. John study was subsumed under the general
rubric of socio—economic status. Although students, teachers, and
parents were found to be affected by the racial composition of the
school they were affected by the socio—economic status of the school
regardless of its racial composition.
However, the authors' own data suggest that School Race appears
to exercise an influence as great as socio-economic status. The

following question is raised, "Does the racial composition of a

26

school impact the characteristics, attitudes, and behavior of school
staff and students in a different way than does the socio—economic
status of a school?"

Drawing from Meadean symbolic interactionist theory it is
postulated that categorizing or typing a school on the basis of its
racial composition may affect teacher eXpectations and concomitantly
affect student perceptions of teacher expectations. Studies by
Goffman, Becker and Brookover give support to this hypothesis.
Teacher attitudes toward students have been found to vary according
to the race of the student.

In general this research will focus upon the influences of
Caucasian teachers in schools categorized as (l) predominantly white,
(2) racially mixed and, (3) predominantly Negro. More Specifically
it will investigate the impact of these racial categories on the
magnitudes of association between teacher expectancies and student

behaviors.

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

In this chapter the pOpulations are described; the Operational
definitions of the major concepts are specified; and the procedures

to test the hypotheses are presented.

Major Racial Categories Of Schools

 

Ppedominantly Negro School1

A predominantly Negro school is defined as a school in which
eighty percent or more of its present student population is Negro.
Also it is a school which has been "typed" by citizens in the
community as "Negro" because of its high Negro student enrollment over
the past ten school years. (School racial composition is 80% through

100% Negro).

Predominantly White School2

 

A predominantly white school is a school in which eighty percent
or more of its student enrollment is Caucasian. Also it is a school
which has been "typed" by citizens in the community as "white" because

1See Appendix A for tables which indicate innerhcity schools
and their racial composition.

2See Appendix A for tables which indicate inner-city schools
and their racial composition.

27

28
of its high Caucasian enrollment over the past ten school years.

Racially-Mixed School3

A raciallyamixed school is a school in which the student
population is seventy-nine percent or less Negro and twenty percent
or more Caucasian (20% through 79% Negro). Also it is a school
which has been "typed" by citizens in this community as "racially-
mixed" because of its mixed racial composition over the past five

school years.

Populations

 

The pOpulations under analysis included all Of the sixth grade
students and Caucasian teachers in sixteen lower class "innerbcity"
schools in an urban midwestern city.

Specifically the pOpulations are:

(l) Negro students with Caucasian teachers in predominantLy

Negro schools. This population includes all of the Negro sixth grade

 

students and their Caucasian teachers in five innerbcity schools of
an urban.midwestern city. All of these students have been regularly
promoted and are not a part of a special education program.

(2) Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers in predominantly

Negro schools. This population includes all of the Caucasian sixth

 

grade students and their Caucasian teachers in five innerbcity schools
of an urban.midwestern city. All Of these students have been regularly

promoted and are not a part of a special education program.

 

3See Appendix A for tables which indicate innerbcity schools
and their racial composition.

29

(3) Negro students with Caucasian teachers in racially-mixed

 

schools. This population includes all of the Negro sixth grade
students and their Caucasian teachers in four inner-city schools of
an urban midwestern city. All of these students have been regularly
promoted and are not part of a special education program.

(A) Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers in racially-

mixed schools. This population includes all of the Caucasian sixth

 

grade students and their Caucasian teachers in four inner-city schools
of an urban midwestern city. All of these students have been regularly
promoted and are not part of a Special education program.

(5) Negro students with Caucasian teachers in predominantLy

 

white schools. This pOpulation includes all Of the Negro students and

 

their Caucasian teachers in seven inner-city schools Of an urban
midwestern city. All of these students have been regularly promoted
and are not part of a special education program.

(6) Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers in predominantly

white schools. This pOpulation includes all of the Caucasian students

 

and their Caucasian teachers in seven inner-city schools of an urban
midwestern city. All of these students have been regularly promoted

and are not part of a special education program.

There were more than 700 students who were originally tested.
However, because there were insufficient numbers Of students and
teachers in certain categories many were excluded from the analysis.

There were A38 students who constituted the general pOpulation of analysis.

30

Table 3.1. Numbers of sixth grade Negro and Caucasian students with
Caucasian teachers* in schools which are predominantly Negro, racially-
mixed, and predominantly white (16 poverty area innerbcity schools).

 

School Racial Status

 

 

 

 

Predominantly Racially Predominantly
Negro Mixed White
Student Race Sgudent Race Student Race
N C N C N C
127 31 I 51 21 208

 

 

 

*2A Caucasian Teachers
Instrumentation and School Records Data

Self-Concept”

 

General selfeconcept Of academic ability refers to the evaluating
definitions which an individual holds of himself in respect to his
ability to achieve in academic tasks in general as compared with
others in his school class.

General self-concept of ability is operationally defined as the
sum of scored responses Of a student to the Michigan State General
SelfLCOncept Of Ability Scale, hereafter referred to as "GSCA."

This scale of eight multiple choice items was developed under U. S. Office

 

”Wilbur B. Brookover, Ann Paterson, and Shailer Thomas, Self
Concept of Ability and School Achievement, U. S. Office of Education,
COOperative Research Project NO. 8A5, East Lansing: Office of
Research and Publication, Michigan State University, 1962.

31

of Education, Cooperative Research Project NO. 8A5. Each item.is
scored from five to one with higher self concept alternatives receiving
the higher values. In this study a.modified version Of this form
(GSCAPD) was used.5 It is scored from three to one with higher

self concept alternatives receiving the higher values.

Perceived Teacher Evaluations (PTEv)6

Perceived Teacher Evaluations, hereafter referred to as PTEv,
refers to the sum of scored responses to a scale of five multiple
choice items. Each item is scored from three to one with higher
perceived teacher evaluations receiving the higher values. The
central question is, "HOW do you think your teacher would rate your
school ability as compared with others Of your age." (See Appendix C

for specific questions).

Responses Scored
a. Among the best 5

b. Above average
c. Average

d. Below average

F-‘NUOJ:

e. Among the poorest

 

5See Appendix B for instruments measuring "Self Concept of
Academic Ability."

6See Appendix C for instruments measuring "Perceived Teacher
Evaluations."

32

Academic Achievement (G.P.A.)

 

For the purpose of this study, "academic achievement" was
defined as the total grade—point average of a subject's grades
during the school year 1965—66. Grade-point averages were obtained

by averaging grades in reading, mathematics, social studies, and

 

 

science.
Classification Grade Point Average
Outstanding 3
Satisfactory for Grade 2
Not Satisfactory for Grade 1

Perceived Teacher Achievement Preferences (PT Ach. Pref.)7

 

Perceived Teacher Achievement Preferences refer to a score
a student received in response to the question, "For your teacher
to be most pleased with you, what kinds of grades should you get

in school in general?"

Responses Scored
a. Mostly A's 9

b. A's and B's
c. Mostly B's
d. B's and C's

e. Mostly C's

JrU'lChN

f. C's and D's

 

7See Appendix D for instruments which measure "Perceived Teacher
Academic Preferences."

33

g. Mostly D's 3
h. D's and E's 2
1. Mostly E's l
j. My grades do not make any 0

difference to my teacher

Achievement Aspirations (Ach. Asp.)8

 

Achievement Aspirations refer to a score a student receives
in response to the question, "What would be the lowest grades you

could get and still be satisfied with yourself?"

ReSponses EEEEEE.
a. Mostly A's 9
b. A's and 8'5 8
c. Mostly 8'5 7
d. B's and C's 6
e. Mostly C's 5
f. C's and D's A
g. Mostly D's 3
h. D's and E's 2
i. Mostly E's l
j. My grades do not make any 0

difference to me

 

8See Appendix E for instruments which measure "Achievement
Aspirations."

3“

Student SociO-Economic Status (Stu. SES)

SociO-Economic Status of students was assessed by a scale
developed by Otis Dudley Duncan which uses father's occupation as
an index. The occupation Of the student's father (or whoever
supports the family) was assigned a value ranging from.1 (lowest)

to 100 (highest).9

School SociO-Economic Status (Sch. SES)

School SociO-Economic Status was determined by a school's
rank on indices Of poverty as established by the Office Of Economic
Opportunity (local Community Action Agency). Schools which met
0E0 criteria were delineated as "target area schools". In order for
a school to be designated as "target area" it ranked high on the

fo1lowing OEO indices of poverty:

1. Percent Negro

2. Percent Functional Illiterates
3. Low Family Income

A. Male Unemployment

5. Substandard Housing

6. PrOperty'Value

7. Overall Crime Rate

 

gsee A. Reiss, Occupation and Social Status. Glencoe, Illinois:
Free Press, 1961.

35

Lower Class Inner-City School

 

An innerbcity school in this study is defined as a school
which met requirements of Title I - Public Act 89-10. Using
indices of poverty established by the local Office of Economic
Opportunity agency sixteen schools were designated as "innerbcity"

or "target area".

Measured Intelligence

 

Measured Intelligence was determined from the I.Q. score on
Form E, Kuhlman-Anderson Group Intelligence Test (given to the

students in this study in February, 1966, in Grade 5).

Student Race

 

Student Race was coded on questionnaires as follows:

 

Code No. Race
1 Caucasian
2 Negro

School Race

 

School Race was coded on questionnaires as follows:

 

Code No. Race
1 White
2 Racially-Mixed

3 Negro

36

Influence

One can never observe influence. It is a theoretical construct.
For the purpose of this study, however, influence was defined as the
magnitude of association between student perceptions Of teacher
expectations and self characteristics of these students. More
specifically, teacher influence refers to the magnitude of association
between: (1) perceived teacher evaluations and self concept,
(2) perceived teacher evaluations and grade-point average, (3) per5
ceived teacher achievement preferences and achievement aspirations,
and (A) perceived teacher achievement preferences and grade-point

average.

Reliability of Instruments

 

Reliability of GSCA-D Scale

 

In the Brookover studies Of the relationship of self concept
of academic ability with academic achievement the major instrument
used was the Michigan State University General Self Concept of Ability
Scale (GSCA). It is an eight item.Guttman~type scale which has
shown high reliability and validity over time. Coefficients of
reproducibility were .95 for males and .96 fOr females for 1050 seventh
grade students. In grades eight and nine with random samples of
thirty-five males and thirty-five females these items retained scale
fOrm.with reproducibilities of .92 and .93 for females and .96 and .97
for males in the two years. In tenth grade with random samples of

150 males and 150 females reproducibilities were .86 and .91 respectively.

37

Reliabilities calculated by Hoyt's analysis of variance indicate
high internal consistency over the four years.
In this study a modified version of this scale was used
because of the low reading levels of sixth grade innerbcity school
students. This form was developed by Joiner, Erickson, and Brookoverll
for use with a diversified group of hearing impaired students.
The readability level of this form is lower than the readability
level of the original form, GSCA - Form A.

Reliability and validity data are reported by Joinerl2

in

his study. The Pearson (Product Moment) correlation coefficient
between scores for non-impaired subjects on the Self Concept Of
Academic Ability - Form A and the Self Concept Of Academic Ability -
Form D was .75. A separate analysis of males (n=49) and females

(n=48) disclosed no difference in correlation for these groups.

The coefficient Of equivalence was .762 for males and .756 for females.
Also stability via test—retest correlations was .84. The reproduci-
bility value was .941. These data were sufficient to warrant use

of the GSCA - D scale with lower class innerbcity sixth grade students,

many Of whom have low readability levels.

 

llWilbur B. Brookover, Edsel L. Erickson, and Lee M; Joiner,
"Self Concept Of Ability and School Achievement, III," COOperative
Research Report NO. 2831, U. 8. Office Of Education. Michigan State
University, East Lansing: (1967) p. 61.

12Lee M. Joiner, "The Reliability and Construct validity or
the Self Concept Of Academic Ability Scale - Form D for Hearing
Impaired Students," An Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, East Lansing:
Michigan State University (1966), p. 52.

38

Relationship of PTEv and GSCA-D

 

Because reliability data have been reported for the dependent
variables, Perceived Teacher Evaluations and General Self Concept
of Academic Ability, it is postulated that correlations between
these two variables will provide a more powerful test of the

magnitude of teacher influences.

Reliability_of PTEv

 

Also the fellowing table shows reliability data for Perceived
Evaluations of Academic Ability scales:
Table 3.2. Hoyt's analysis of variance reliability coefficients

for perceived evaluations of academic ability scales, grades 8-12
longitudinal study. 3

 

 

Grade PPEv PFEv PTEv
8 .838 .755 .918

9 .8“6 .880 .927
10 .782 .869 .921
11 .828 .859 .921
12 .899 .871 .912

 

n=56l combined males and females

*From this table one can discern the high reliability coefficients
for Perceived Teacher Evaluations.

 

l3Wilbur B. Brookover, Edsel L. Erickson, Lee M. Joiner, Op. cit.,
p. 61.

39

Reliability of Other Variables

 

Reliability data has not been reported for Perceived Teacher
Achievement Preferences (PT Ach.) or Achieved Aspirations (Ach. Asp.).
Hewever, these variables have been used frequently in other studies
conducted by Brookover, Erickson and associates in the Michigan State
University studies of "Self Concept of Ability and School Achievement."
Because these scales lack reliability the findings derived from them
can only be considered tentative. As indices of teacher influence
these one-item instruments are much less sensitive than the GSCA scale

or the PTEv scale.

Data Collection Procedures

In the winter of 1967 questionnaires were administered to
all of the sixth grade students in sixteen innerbcity schools of
a.medium.sized midwestern city. The questionnaires were administered
in each sixth grade class in each of the sixteen schools under the
direction of the author and research assistants from'Western Michigan
University.

Idiosyncratic background data on each student was simultaneously
collected by this author.

The investigators were careful not to mention to students or
teachers race, class or any items which they feared.might confound

the results of this study.

“0

Statistical Procedures

 

The general hypothesis was that the magnitude of teacher influence
on students in predominantly white schools will be greater than.the
magnitude of teacher influence on students in racially-mixed schools
which will, in turn, be greater than the magnitude of teacher influence
in predominantly Negro schools. The predicted direction is as follows:
w > M>N.

The major research hypotheses to be tested are that the Pearson
Product moment correlations between PTEv (Perceived Teacher Evaluations)
and SCA (Self Concept of Ability) and between PTEv (Perceived Teacher
Evaluations) and GPA (grade-point average)differ for schools which are
predominantly Negro (N), racially-mixed (M) and predominantly white

(W) as follows:
HRl: Ilxl’rm
Hm: I’w’ rM>O
H43 : r - r ‘<.O
HR2 : rM.> rN
HR2 : rM - rN,>b0
H23 : r - r 1<.O
H123: 1r’w>"’N
“33 w N

H15 : rw - rN;§;O

"S
I
*3
\I
c:

Hypothesized Cgrrelations

 

Pearson's Product moment correlations were computed to test
hypotheses of association between perceived teacher evaluations and
self concept of ability and between perceived teacher evaluations and

grade-point average.

“1

These correlations were tested for significance at the
.05 level (one-tailed test) by reference to tabled values of

r for a given.number of degrees of freedom.lll

H‘): ‘9: 0

The null hypothesis is:

Hypothesized Differences in Correlations

HR : (3 - (g :0: Differences in Pearson's Product moment

correlations for independent populations was determined by a one-

 

tailed 2 test15 where values of‘G’are converted to z scores.
(HA: 31 -52 50)
Level of Significance
For all null hypotheses the region of rejection, alpha,
‘was set as equal to or beyond the .05 level of statistical
significance.
Supportive hypotheses which are not as subject to as
stringent a test as the major hypotheses due to levels of
measurement and distribution properties (see Instrumentation section)

16

are that the Kendall-Tau Rank Correlations between perceived

teacher achievement preferences (PT Ach. Pref.) and achievement

 

1”John B. Peatman, Introduction of Applied Statistics,

New York: Harper and Row, 1963.
15lbid. , p. 306.

l6Sidney Siegel, Noinarametric Statistics for the Behavioral
Sciences, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. (1956), p. 213.

N2

aspirations (Ach. Asp.), perceived teacher achievement preferences
(PT Ach. Pref.) and grade-point average (GPA) and perceived
teacher evaluations and grade-point average (GPA) will rank as

follows:

P
H : a"T'
R5 ’rM N
H :
R6 E’TN
Hypotheses one through six were tested with Negro students

and Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers. As indicated in

Table 3 - there were only six Negro students in a predominantly

white school. Hence, hypotheses Hf , HR3’ HRS’ and HR6 could not

be tested with Negro students in predominantly white schools.

Control variables

 

In this study it was important to control for the social

class composition of the school. As indicated in the Instrumentation

 

section all of the schools included in this study complied with

OEO indices of poverty to qualify as "target area" or innerbcity
schools. As a further check of the social class composition of

the schools mean scores of student SES (socio—economic status) were
calculated for each racial category. It was found that there were no
differences in mean scores of schools by individual SES. Approximately

ninety percent of the students in each school scored one standard.

“3

deviation or more below the mean on the Duncan Student SES scale.l7

These mean scores are reported in the following table:

Table 3.3. Student SES mean scores of schools of varying racial
composition.*

 

N P4 W
(N=158) (N=72) (N=208)
22 23 25

 

*Because these scores were so far below the mean fer the general
pOpulation it was felt that it was unnecessary to calculate
statistical differences between them.

Also the breakdown of boys and girls in some categories was

too small for analysis. Thus, for purposes of analysis in this

study boys and girls were not treated separately.

 

l7Reiss, Op. cit., p. 109-161. The mean scores were derived
from the widely-used Duncan-Socio-Economic Index for all occupations.
The mean of this scale for the general pOpulation is 50. The total
means of students in various racial categories ranged from 22 through 25.

AA

Other Findings

 

Since this study was designed to test magnitudes Of association
(correlations) between variables which measured teacher influence
differences in mean scores were not germane. However, pertinent

mean scores are reported in the Appendix.

§ETT§EX

In this chapter procedures which were used in conducting this
investigation were discussed.

The population under investigation included all of the sixth
grade students, Negro and Caucasian, in sixteen inner-city schools
of an urban midwestern community. There were A38 students, 260
Caucasian and 178 Negro, included in the study.

Instruments were listed and available reliability and validity
data on these instruments were reported. Also Operational definitions
of terms used in the study were given.

Finally the major hypothesis was stated and subsidiary
hypotheses were listed in symbolic fbrnu Major statistical devices
which will be employed were described. Analysis involved Pearson
Product Moment correlations, Kendall-Tau Coefficients Of Rank
Correlation, student‘s "t" tests, and 2 tests. A summary table
listed on the next page succintly describes the variables and the

procedures used in testing relationships between variables.

Table 3.”. Summary of correlations used in the analysis.

”5

 

 

M

 

Caucasian Students and
Caucasian Teachers

(N=3l)

(N=21)

(N=208)

 

PTEv x SCA
PTEv x GPA
PTAch. Pref. x Ach. Asp.

PTAch. Pref. x GPA

'i-l‘ti

idii

RfiWT

 

Negro Students and
Caucasian Teachers

(N=l27)

(N=51)

 

PTEv x SCA
PTEv x GPA
PTAch. Pref. x Ach. Asp.

PTAch. Pref. X GPA

 

flfifii

 

dflxi

 

 

CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH FINDINGS

The test of the hypotheses and the analysis of the data are
presented in the same fOrm and order as their theoretical develOpment

in Chapter I.

Racial Composition of the School and Its Effect
On.Major Indices of Teacher Influence

The research interests in this section are in determining:
(1) if the relationships between perceived teacher evaluations (PTEv)
and self concept of ability (SCA) differs in schools of varying
racial composition and (2) if the relationship of perceived teacher
evaluations (PTEv) and grade-point average (GPA) differs in schools
of varying racial composition. The basic hypothesis was that the
magnitude of association between the two sets of variables, each a
major index of teacher influence, would differentially be affected
by schools which are predominantly Negro (N), racially-mixed (M) and

(3) predominantly white (W).

A6

“7

H : The relationship between perceived teacher evaluations

and self concept of academic ability is greater for
Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers in predominantly
Caucasian schools than in racially-mixed schools.

H : T’ .> r’
l W M
H : — V”
R rR' M ).0

H15: Y&, - r®155()
Statistic: z test, one-tailed.

The findings presented in Table 9.1 show that the relationship
between perceived teacher evaluations and self concept of academic
ability is greater for Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers in
predominantly white schools than in racially-mixed schools.

H : The relationship between perceived teacher evaluations
and self concept of academic ability is greater for

Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers in racially-
mixed schools than in predominantly Negro schools.

H2 : '71 g» ':N
Herzl-mo
HZ}: TQ - rh,g;0
Statistic: 2 test, one-tailed.
The findings presented in Table “.1 show that the relationship
between perceived teacher evaluations and self concept of academic

ability is not greater for Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers

in racially-mixed schools than in predominantly Negro schools.

A8

H . The relationship between perceived teacher evaluations
3 and self concept of academic ability is greater fOr
Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers in predominantly

white schools than in predominantly Negro schools.

“3"?R'EG
HR:YW'VN>O
HA:rW-r1:1$0

Statistic: 2 test, one-tailed.

The findings presented in Table A.l show that the relationship
between perceived teacher evaluations and self concept of academic
ability is not greater for Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers
in predominantly white schools than it is in predominantly Negro schools.

H : The relationship between perceived teacher evaluations
and self concept of academic ability is greater for

Negro students with Caucasian teachers in racially-
mixed schools than in predominantly Negro schools.

HAer>rN
HR: '71 'Q’0
HA: rM-rN

Statistic: 2 test, one-tailed.

50

As indicated in Table A.l the correlation between perceived
teacher evaluations and self concept of academic ability is greater
for Negro students with Caucasian teachers in raciallyamixed schools

than in predominantly Negro schools.

“9

Table A.l. Correlations between perceived teacher evaluation and
self concept of academic ability for Negro and Caucasian students

with Caucasian teachers.

 

 

 

N M W
Caucasian Students (N=3l) (N=2l) (N=208)
Pl‘Ev x SCA r = .57 r' = .142 r' = .514
l 2 3
Negro Students (N=127) (N=5l)
r4 = .143 r; = 05“

 

Adl.r”s significantly different, P beyond .05 level, "Student's t"
statistic. Small and disproportionate n's prohibited adequate

test of differences between r's, P > .05.

H : r' > 7" Accepted (magnitude of difference

1 3 2 in predicted direction)
H2 : r2 ) r1 Rejected
H3 : r; > rl Rejected
H . r > .- Accepted (magnitude of difference
A 5 A in predicted direction)
H The association between perceived teacher evaluations

5 and grade-point average is greater for Caucasian

students with Caucasian teachers in predominantly
white schools than in racially-mixed schools.

H5 : I19.) r3,
IE} : rh, - IE )tO
HA‘ r121 "5150

Statistic: 2 test, one-tailed.

An examination of Table A.2 reveals that the correlation between

perceived teacher evaluations and grade-point average is not greater

for Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers in predominantly white

schools than in raciallyamixed schools.

50

H : The relationship between perceived teacher evaluations
and grade-point average is greater for Caucasian
students with Caucasian teachers in racially-mixed
schools than in predominantly Negro schools.

Ho‘ r131"?
HR: (M -I"N>0
HA‘ '74 "5150

Statistic: 2 test, one-tailed.

The findings presented in Table A.2 show that the association
between perceived teacher evaluations and grade-point average is
greater for Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers in racially-
mixed schools than in predominantly Negro schools.

H : The relationship between perceived teacher evaluations

7 and grade-point average is greater for Caucasian

students with Caucasian teachers in predominantly white
schools than in predominantly Negro schools.

H7 : r; :> rh
HR : rg, - Tk >‘O
H15: fa] -'Ifi_530
Statistic: 2 test, one-tailed.
The findings presented in Table A.2 show that this hypothesis
was confirmed.

H8 : The association between perceived teacher evaluations

and grade-point average is greater for Negro students
with Caucasian teachers in racially-mixed schools than
in predominantly Negro schools.
“8‘ Q’rN
HR: rM -rN>O
: - 4:
HA rm rN—O
Statistic: 2 test, one-tailed.
It is shown in Table A.2 that the correlation between perceived

teacher evaluations and grade-point average is greater for Negro students

with Caucasian teachers in racially-mixed schools than in predominantly

51

Table A.2. Correlations between perceived teacher evaluations and
grade-point average for Negro and Caucasian students with Caucasian
teachers.

 

 

 

N M W
Caucasian Students (N=3l) (N=2l) (N=208)
PI'EV x GPA T' = .15* r' = .38* I" = .33
6 7 8
Negro Students (N=l27) (N=51)
PTEv x GPA r5 = 11 T10 = .27

 

*Not significant, P beyond .05 level, "Student's t" statistic.
Small and disproportionate n's prohibited adequate test of differences
between Y's, P > .05.

H5 : r5

H6 : r" > 7': Accepted (magnitude of difference
in predicted direction)

> I"7 Rejected

H : 75 >' '8 Accepted (magnitude of difference
in predicted direction)

H : r10>9r~ Accepted (magnitude of difference
in predicted direction)

52

Summary

Many correlation coefficients in the tables of this section
were statistically significant. However, because of the small
and disproportionate pOpulations in the racial categories adequate
tests Of differences between correlations were prohibited. TO
find statistical significance of difference between some correlations
required a difference in the numerator of the 2 test formula of .57.

In this study, however, only actual differences in magnitudes
of association between sets of variables in each racial category were
relevant. It was found that five of the eight hypothesized relationships
in this section were in the predicted direction.

On this basis it appears that the racial composition of
schools differentially affects the magnitude of association between
perceived teacher evaluations and self concept of ability and the
magnitude of association between perceived teacher evaluations and
grade-point average. However, these findings are not always consistent
with the direction indicated in the major hypothesis of this research.
In one case the relationship between perceived teacher evaluations
and self concept of academic ability the correlation coefficient
was greater in Negro schools than in predominantly white or racially-

mixed schools.

53

Racial Composition of the School
and Its Effect on Other Related
Indices of Teacher Influence

 

The research interests in this section are in deterndrfire;
(1) if the relationship between perceived teacher achievement
preferences (PI‘ Ach.) and achievement aspirations (Ach. Asp.)
differs according to the racial category of the school and (2) if
the relationship between perceived teacher achievement preferences
(PT Ach.) and grade-point average (GPA) differs according to the
racial category of the school.

It was felt that associations between these two sets of
variables would furnish supportive evidence to the hypothesis that
the magnitude of influence of Caucasian teachers would be differentially
affected by schools which are predominantly Negro (N), racially-mixed (M)
and predominantly white (W). Because the instruments designed to
measure these aSpects of teacher influence had no reported reliability
data and involved only one item Kendall-Tau rank correlation coefficients
were Obtained. There are no tests of significance for differences between
Kendall-Tau correlations. In this analysis hypothesized differences
between correlations can be observed by inspecting the tables,

H : The magnitude of association between perceived teacher

9 achievement preferences and achievement aspirations
is greater for Caucasian students with Caucasian

teachers in predominantly white schools than in racially-
mixed schools.

H :
R9 W’TM

By inspection Of Table A.3 a greater correlation between perceived
teacher achievement preferences and achievement aspirations fOr Caucasian
students with Caucasian teachers in predominantly white schools than in

racially mixed schools can be Observed.

5A

H : The magnitude of association between perceived
10 teacher achievement preferences and achievement
aspirations is greater fOr Caucasian students with
Caucasian teachers in racially-mixed schools than
in predominantly Negro schools.

H : ’TJ,.>‘1‘:
RlO Al N

By inspection of Table A.3 a lesser correlation between
perceived teacher achievement preferences and achievement aspirations
for Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers in racially-mixed

schools than in predominantly Negro schools can be observed.

Hll : The magnitude of association between perceived
teacher achievement preferences and achievement

aspirations is greater for Caucasian students with
Caucasian teachers in predominantly Caucasian
schools than in predominantly Negro schools.

H : ’T’
Rll W’TN

By inspection of Table A.3 a greater correlation between
perceived teacher achievement preferences and achievement aspirations
for Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers in predominantly
white schools than in predominantly Negro schools can be seen.

Hl2 : The magnitude of association between perceived

teacher achievement preferences and achievement
aspirations is greater for Negro students with

Caucasian teachers in racially-mixed schools than
in predominantly Negro schools.

H : ’T’
R12 M>TN
The above hypothesis is disconfinmed by inspection of Table A.3.
A lesser correlation can be observed between perceived teacher achievement

preferences and achievement aspirations of Negro students with Caucasian

teachers in predominantly Negro schools than in racially-mixed schools.

55

Table A.3. Kendall-Tau rank correlations between perceived teacher
achievement preferences and achievement aspirations for Negro and
Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers.

 

 

N M W
Caucasian Students (N=26) (N=2l) (N=l90)
PT Ach.Pref. x Ach. Asp. ’T’l = .53 ’7; = .29 7;: 58
Negro Students 1(N=ll5) (N=50)
PT Ach.Pref. x Ach. Asp. A = .60 ’n;== .53

 

P< .05 for all coefficients.

1‘19 : 7:) 7; Accepted
H10 : 7; > T; Rejected
H11 : T; > T; Accepted
H12 : T; ) 7; Rejected

H : The magnitude of association between perceived teacher

13 achievement preferences and grade-point average is
greater for Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers
in predominantly white schools than in racially-mixed
S ChOOlS o

H :7’>T

R13 ‘W M
Table A.A indicates that this hypothesis is confirmed.

56

H114 : The magnitude of association between perceived teacher
achievement preferences and grade-point average is
greater for Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers
in racially-mixed schools than in predominantly Negro
schools.

HRlA:’TM>rTN

By inspection of Table A.A a greater correlation between
perceived teacher achievement preferences and grade-point average
of Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers in racially-mixed

schools than in predominantly Negro schools can be observed.

H : The magnitude of association between perceived teacher
15 achievement preferences and grade-point average is
greater for Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers
in predominantly white schools than in predominantly
Negro schools.

mm"

H
R15 'W N
An inspection of Table A.A indicates that above cited hypothesis

is confirmed.

H 6 : The observed association between perceived teacher
1 achievement preferences and grade-point average is
greater for Negro students with Caucasian teachers in
raciallydmixed schools than in predominantly Negro schools.

HR16:’T/)q/

M N

This hypothesis is accepted by inSpection of Table A.A.

57

Table A.A. Kendall-Tau correlations between perceived teacher
achievement preferences and grade-point average for Caucasian
and Negro students with Caucasian teachers.

 

 

 

N M w
Caucasian Students (N=26) (N=2l) (N=l90)
PT Ach. Pref. x GPA ’72 = 0* T} = .05* 1‘5 = .14
Negro Students (N=ll5)* (N=50)
PT Ach. Pref. x GPA ”I; = .06 1:0 = .17

 

*Not significant, P J» .05.

H : T8 )1; Accepted

13
HlA : 177),); Accepted

H15 : 1g )4; Accepted
Hl6 : ’51)) 7; Accepted

§EEE§EX

From inspection of Tables A.3 and A.A it can be observed that
Kendall-Tau rank correlations, which are not amenable to tests of
significance of difference between correlations, are generally greater
for Caucasian and Negro students with Caucasian teachers in predominantly
white and racially-mixed innerbcity schools than in predominantly Negro
schools. Six of the eight hypothesized relationships for Caucasian

and Negro students with Caucasian teachers were in the predicted direction.

58

However, the correlation between perceived teacher achievement
preferences and achievement aspirations for Negro and Caucasian
students was found to be greater for Negro and Caucasian in
predominantly Negro inner-city schools than in racially-mixed innerb

city schools.

CHAPTER'V

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

This has been an investigation of the magnitude of teacher

influence under conditions Of racial composition of the schools.

Summary of Research Objectives

The research objective was to determine if the racial compos-
ition of the school has a differential effect upon the magnitude
of influence of Caucasian teachers on Negro and Caucasian sixth grade
students in lower class inner-city schools of a midwestern city.
Mere specifically the focus of this research was the examination of
the hypothesis that the magnitude of teacher influence would differ
in schools categorized as (l) predominantly Negro, (2) racially-
mixed, and (3) predominantly white.

59

60

Summary of Methodology

 

The pOpulation under investigation included all of the sixth
grade students, Negro and Caucasian, with Caucasian teachers in
sixteen lower class inner~city schools of a medium sized midwestern
city. All of these students were in a regular school program and
had been regularly promoted. There were A38 students, 178 Negro
and 260 Caucasian, included in the analysis.

To determine the relative effects of schools of varying
racial composition on teacher influence it was important to control
for the social class composition of the schools. Only students, who
attended lower class inner-city schools, which.met criteria of
poverty as defined by the local Community Action Agency were tested.
Because approximately equally small numbers of boys and girls were
found in each racial category it was deemed unnecessary to control
for student sex. In each racial category the mean total student
sociO—economic status level was approximately the same. Because of
disproportionate numbers in racial categories measured intelligence
was not controlled.

The variables under analysis were: perceived teacher evaluations,
self concept of academic ability, perceived teacher achievement preferences,
achievement aspirations, and grade-point average.

The data was collected through the administration of questionnaires
and from the students' school records. The analysis of the data involved
the use Of product moment correlations, Kendall-Tau correlations,

Student's "t" tests, and 2 tests.

61

Summary of Research Findings

 

Racial Composition of the School

 

and Its Effect On Major Indices

 

of Teacher Influence

 

A.

C.

As anticipated the association between perceived teacher
evaluations and self concept of academic ability was
found to be greater for Caucasian students with Caucasian
teachers in predominantly white inner-city schools than
in racially—mixed innerbcity schools. (Table A.l)

The association between perceived teacher evaluations

and self concept of academic ability was not greater

for Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers in
racially-mixed innerbcity schools than in predominantly
Negro innerbcity schools.

The association between perceived teacher evaluations

and self concept of academic ability was not fOund to

be greater for Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers
in predominantly white innerbcity schools than in
predominantly Negro inner-city schools.

The association between perceived teacher evaluations and
self concept of academic ability was greater fOr Negro
students with Caucasian teachers in racially-mixed innerb

city schools than in predominantly Negro inner-city schools.

E.

I.

62

The association between
and grade—point average
students with Caucasian
inner-city schools than
schools.

The association between
and grade-point average
students with Caucasian
innerbcity schools than
city schools.

The association between
and grade-point average
students with Caucasian
innerhcity schools than
city schools.

The association between
and grade-point average

with Caucasian teachers

perceived teacher evaluations
was not greater for Caucasian
teachers in predominantly white

in racially-mixed innerhcity

perceived teacher evaluations
was greater for Caucasian
teachers in racially-mixed

in predominantly Negro inner-

perceived teacher evaluations
was greater for Caucasian
teachers in predominantly white

in predominantly Negro inner-

perceived teacher evaluations
was greater for Negro students

in racially-mixed inner-city

schools than in predominantly Negro innerbcity schools.

The association between

perceived teacher achievement

preferences and achievement aspirations was greater for

Caucasian students with

Caucasian teachers in predominantly

white innerbcity schools than in racially-mixed innerbcity

schools.

L.

a
1'0

63

The association between perceived teacher achievement
preferences and achievement aspirations was lesser

for Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers in
racially-mixed innerbcity schools than in predominantly

Negro innerbcity schools.

The association between perceived teacher achievement
preferences and achievement aspirations was greater

for Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers in
predominantly white innerecity schools than in predominantly
Negro inneracity schools.

The association between perceived teacher achievement
preferences and achievement aspirations was lesser for

Negro students with Caucasian teachers in raciallyemixed
innerbcity schools than in predominantly Negro innerhcity
schools.

The association between perceived teacher achievement
preferences and grade-point average aspirations was greater
for Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers in predominantly
white inner-city schools than in racially—mixed inner-city
schools.

The association between perceived teacher achievement
preferences and grade-point average was greater for Caucasian
students with Caucasian teachers in racially-mixed inner-city

schools than in predominantly Negro inner-city schools.

0.

6A

The association between perceived teacher achievement
preferences and grade-point average was greater for
Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers in predominantly
white inner-city schools than in predominantly Negro inner5
city schools.

The association between perceived teacher achievement
preferences and grade—point average was greater for

Negro students with Caucasian teachers in racially-mixed
inner-city schools than in predominantly Negro inner-city

schools.

65

Discussion of Findings

 

Conclusions

 

Following the Supreme Court decision of 195A school racial
composition and the attendant problem.of school desegregation have
become major educational issues throughout the nation. These
issues have become the subject of’much rhetoric but little research.
The most definitive research in this area, the Coleman report,
Equality of Educational Opportunity_and the subsequent U. S. Civil
Rights mendssion report, Racial Isolation in the Public Schools,
were not consistent regarding the effect of school racial composition
and student achievement. While both attributed major effects on
student achievement to the social class level of the school, the
latter report fOund evidence of a greater independent residual
relationship between racial composition of the classroom and
achievement than did the Coleman report.

The major’purpose of this exploratory study was to determine
if the contextual variable, racial composition of the school,
differentially affected the relationship between perceived teacher
expectancies and student characteristics (defined in the study as

teacher influence) for Negro and Caucasian lowerbclass students.

66

This investigation examined the effects of racial composition only
in lowerbclass innerbcity schools; hence school social class composition
was held constant.

Because of the limitations, which will be discussed later, all
conclusions reported here must be regarded as tentative. Indeed,
many of the inconsistent findings make it difficult to make generalizations
about such a sensitive and debatable school issue.

From the findings presented in this chapter it can be discerned
that the major hypothesis of this research was not fUlly supported.

One conclusion, however, is that the racial composition of the school

 

does have an effect on teacher influence which is distinct from.that

 

of the social class composition of the school. With the social class

 

composition of the school controlled, teacher influence varied according
to schools categorized as predominantly Negro, racially-mixed, and
predominantly white although the hypothesized differences in relationships
between dependent variables were not always in the predicted direction.

In this study it was shown that the magnitude of teacher influence
was generally greater in predominantly white innerbcity schools than
in raciallyzndxed or predominantly Negro innerbcity schools. Hewever,
the relationships between two indices of teacher influence, perceived
teacher evaluations and self concept of academic ability and perceived
teacher achievement preferences and achievement aspirations, were greater

fOr Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers in predominantly Negro

67

schools than in racially-mixed schools. This unanticipated finding
may be possibly explained by the tendency of Caucasian teachers to
strongly identify with Caucasian students in a predominantly Negro
school.

Also the relationship between perceived teacher achievement
preferences and achievement aspirations was higher for Negro students
with Caucasian teachers in.predominantly Negro schools than in racially-
mixed schools. Reading down the rows in Table A.3 it can also be seen
that the relationships between perceived teacher achievement preferences
and achievement aspirations were higher fOr Negro students than Caucasian
students in predominantly Negro and racially-mixed innerbcity schools.

Moreover, lower class Negro students in predominantly Negro
and raciallyemixed innerhcity schools had higher mean self conceptions
of ability than lower class Caucasian students. This Observation is
congruent with numerous studies of aspirations and self concept in
which Negro and Caucasian students of similar socio—economic status
are compared.1

These serendipity findings are somewhat inconsistent with the
prevailing notion that predominantly Negro schools have a negative
effect on teacher expectations. Also these findings challenge somewhat

2

the "self-fulfilling prOphecy" idea as espoused by Kenneth Clark and

1For example, see Alan Wilson, op. cit., p. 19A.

2Kenneth B. Clark, Dark Ghetto: Dilemmas of Social Power.
New York: Harper and Row (I965), p. 127.

68

others. Caucasian teachers in this limited study may or may not have
negative expectations for Negro and Caucasian students but these
expectations were not perceived negatively by these students in
predominantly Negro innerbcity schools. Although this finding must
be regarded as tentative it may be taken as evidence that the "self
fulfilling prophecy" does not always prevail in a lower—class
predominantly Negro school.

With these exceptions, however, teacher influence was generally
greater in predominantly white schools (with a much larger population)
and racially-mixed schools than in predominantly Negro schools. This
is a confirmation and extension of the United States Civil Rights
Commission finding that there is a residual relationship between
racial composition of the class and achievement.3

In other studies, however, School Race was examined differently.
Usually these studies have involved large representative samples of
students from.various socio—economic levels. In these kinds of
studies attempts were made to hold the social class composition of
the school constant while examining the effects of school racial
mix. Such attempts have usually resulted in breaking down large

samples into representative sub-samples.“ Because of the segregated

nature of our school system Negro and Caucasian students are

 

3Racial Isolation in the Public Schools, op. cit., p. A1.

“Ibid.

69

clustered in segregated situations. The few Negro students found
attending desegregated or racially-mixed schools are usually upwardly
mobile and of a generally higher social class level than Negro students
in segregated school situations. This usually means that the
desegregated or racially-mixed schools examined in such massive
studies are of higher social class level. School racial mix then
becomes confounded with school social class composition. In this
study only lower class schools were examined separately and the
confOunding effect of social class did not take place. Thus, from
the limited perspective Of this study it is apparent that although
school racial composition and school social class composition are
highly intertwined (as evidenced from.the strikingly similar'mean
scores on dependent variables in this study) they are different
contextual variables.

Also it can be concluded from this study that ragially-mixing,
a school does not impair o: geaken the magnitude of teacher influence
or the achievement level of Negro or Caucasian students. Indeed in
one case, the relationship between perceived teacher evaluations and
grade-point average for Caucasian students with Caucasian teachers
was greater in racially-mixed schools than this relationship in all
of the other racial categories.

While this finding disconfirms to some extent one directional

hypothesis it affOrds ample defense for educators who are bent on

70

desegregating their schools. Contrary to pOpular belief, at least in
this one study it was generally fOund that racially-mixed schools
did not differ too greatly from predominantly white innerbcity schools
as far as their effects on student achievement and teacher influence.
This finding also disconfirms the popular belief, held by some
Caucasian parents, that the attitudes and achievement of their children
will be negatively affected by desegregating the schools. Controlling
for social class composition of the school there was no significant
difference in the total mean grade-point average of students in
racially-mixed schools and students in other racial categories.
Moreover, there was no significant difference between the total mean
grade—point average of Negro and Caucasian students in racially-mixed
innerbcity schools.

Also it can be generally concluded that the findings Of this

exploratory research substantiate the theory in which itgwas couched.

 

It corroborates the theory advanced by Mead and articulated by

Brookover that the individual incorporates the "generalized other"

which represents society, and comes to view himself from the perspective
of society within himself. It was generally fOund in this investigation
that the racial composition of the school did affect the ways in which
students View themselves and their teachers. Although the total
environment affects the ways in which students evaluate themselves as

learners and how they perceive that others evaluate them, the contextual

71

variable, school racial composition represents an important social
condition which also affects the attitudes and performance of

students and the influence of teachers.

Implications

 

School racial composition which has been typically treated in
sociological research as a demographic variable was found in this
study to be a separate contextual phenomenon which may independently

affect teacher influence of students. A major implication of the

 

findings of this study is that teacher influence of lower class

Negro and Caucasian students might be enhanced by changing the racial
make-up of a school. However, this inference needs further verification
through experimental programs.

Educators, especially school administrators and teachers, might
well focus on programs designed to correct conditions of racial isolation.
While this may mean drastic changes in school policy, organization and
planning it must also mean attitudinal change on the part of school
personnel who are prone to stereotype schools and students on the
basis of race. Thus, it is implied that teachers and school personnel
need extensive in-service teacher education progzane designed to help
them understand the needs and values of these students and to modify
their expectations of them.

However, the relevance of the unanticipated finding that the

correlation between perceived teacher evaluations and self concept of

72

ability was significantly higher for Caucasian students with Caucasian

teachers in Negro schools than in racially-mixed schools suggests that

merely racially-mixing a school will not insure greater teacher influence.
There are many other factors than school racial mix which may

affect teachers' influence and student-teacher relationships.

Desegregating a school to achieve some semblance of racial balance

is a.mere first step in enhancing teacher influence. Indeed, as fOund

in this study, there are racially-mixed schools in which the magnitude

of teacher influence is less than the magnitude of teacher influence

in a predominantly Negro school.

Limitations

 

One of the major limitations of this study was the inadequate
sample. Although there were more than sevenphundred sixth grade
students tested only fOur-hundred thirty-eight were included in this
study. There were no Negro teachers in the seven predominantly white
innerbcity schools and no Caucasian students with Negro teachers in
predominantly Negro schools. Therefore students with Negro teachers
had to be eliminated from this analysis. Also there were only five
Negro sixth grade students in predominantly white schools. Moreover,
there were such small numbers in other categories that it was meaningless
to take random samples of students in various categories.

Another limitation of this study was the large number of

separate one-item instruments designed to measure aspects of teacher

73

influence. The similarity in the structure of these questions may
have resulted in response sets for many of these innerbcity sixth
grade students who read below grade level.

Another limitation was the difficulty in controlling for
teacher characteristics, such as teacher quality, teacher social
class, teacher job satisfaction and teacher morale.

Another limitation was the fact that in some schools, cate-
gorized as predominantly Negro, sixth grade students were grouped
in such a way that they were in "racially-mixed" (as defined in this
study) classrooms. This had somewhat of a confounding effect on
the results in this study.

Also the instruments employed in this study were not designed
to pick up actual teacher eXpectations and actual teacher achievement
preferences for students.

This is an exploratory study which raises a great number of
questions regarding the effects of the racial composition of the
school on teacher and pupil relationships. It is lhmited in depth
and in scope. However, it gives credence to the notion that school
social class and school racial composition are different kinds Of

variables.

Recommendations

 

1. This study should be replicated in a large school system
or systems. Opportunity for selecting random samples
of students in each racial category for a more thorough

statistical analysis should be given.

2.

7A

The one-item instruments should be improved. Also
reliability and validity tests should be made for
these instruments.

A more SOphisticated study should compare measures of
actual teacher expectations and achievement preferences
of students with perceived teacher evaluations and
perceived teacher achievement preferences.

Further research should focus on the effects of School

Race under conditions of'middle-class schools.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Becker, Howard. "The Career of the Chicago Public School Teacher,"
American Journal of Sociology, 57 (March, 1952), A70-A77.

. The Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance.
London: Free Press of Glencoe, 1963.

Brookover, Wilbur B. "A Social Psychological Conception of Classroom
Learning," School and Society, LXXXVII (1959), 8A-87.

"Teachers and the Stratification of American Society,"
Harvard Educational Review, XXIII (1953), 657-667.

 

and Erickson, Edsel L. "Introduction: Symposium on Self-
Concept and Its Relationship to Academic Achievement: A
Longitudinal Analysis." A paper presented at the American
Research Association meetings, Chicago, 1965.

Erickson, Edsel L. and Joiner, Lee M; "SelfeConcept of
Ability and School Achievement, III." Final Report on
Cooperative Research Project No. 2831. United States Depart-
ment of Health, Education and Welfare. East Lansing: Human
Learning Research Institute, Michigan State University, 1967.

Gottlieb, David. Sociolo of Education. New York:
American Book Company, 19 .

 

, LePere, Jean M., Hamachek, Donald E., Thomas, Shailer and
Erickson, Edsel L. "Improving Academic Achievement Through
Students' Self Concept Enhancement, II." U. S. Office of
Education, COOperative Research Project No. 2831. East Lansing:
Bureau of Educational Research Services, Michigan State univer-
sity, 1965.

, LePere, Jean M., Erickson, Edsel L., and Thomas, Shailer.

Definitions of Others, Self Concept, and Academic Achievement:
A Longitudinal Study." A paper presented at the American
Sociological Association at Chicago, 1965.

Paterson, Ann and Thomas, Shailer. "SelfeConcept of Ability
and School Achievement " U. 8. Office of Education, COOperative
Research Project NO. 8A5. East Lansing: Office of Research
and Publications, Michigan State University, 1962.

75

76

Burton, William H. "Educational and Social Class in the United States,"
Harvard Educational Review, VOl. 23, No. A, Fall, 1953.

Clark, Kenneth B. Dark Ghetto: Dilemmas of Social Power. New York:
Harper and Row, 1965.

. "Educational Stimulation of Racially Disadvantaged Children,"
in A. Harry Passow (ed.), Education in Depressed Areas. New York:
Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University,
1963.

Coleman, James H., et al. Equality of Educational Opportunity, U. S.
Department of Health, Education and welfare. Washington:
U. S. Government Printing Office, 1966.

Davidson, Helen H. and Lang, Gerhard. "Children's Perceptions of
Their Teacher's Feelings waard Them Related to SelfePerception,
School Achievement and Behavior," Journal of Experimental
Education, XXXX (1960), 107-118.

Davis, Allison. Social Class Influences Upon Learning. Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 19A8.

Deutsch, Martin. "Minority Groups and Class Status as Related to
Social and Personality Factors in Scholastic Achievement,"
Monograph No. 2, The Society for Applied AnthrOpOlogy,
Cornell University, 1960.

Erickson, Edsel L. and Thomas, Shailer. "The Normative Influence
of Parents and.Friends Upon School Achievement." A.paper
presented at the meetings of the American Education Research
Association, Chicago, 1965.

, Joiner, Lee M., Krugh, Corwin, and Sproull, Natalie.
Perceptions of the Educational Expectations of Others and
Educational Plans: A Longitudinal Study of High School Males,"
in Education Research Series NO. 36, COOperative Research
Project NO. 2831, East Lansing: Michigan State University,
(1957). 303-316.

. "A Study of the NOrmative Influence of Parents and Friends
Upon Academic Achievement." Unpublished Ed.D. Dissertation,
Michigan State University, 1965.

Goffman, Erving. Stiggé: NOtes on the Management of Spoiled Identity.
Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1963.

77

Gottlieb, David. "Goal Aspirations and Goal Fulfillments: Differences
Between Deprived and Affluent American Adolescents," American
Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 3A (October, 196A), 93A-9A1.

. "Teaching and Students: The Views of Negro and White
Teachers," Sociology of Education, VOl. 37. No. A (Summer, 196A),

3A5-353.

Grambs, Jean. "Are we Training Prejudice Teachers?", School and Society,
71 (1950), 196-198.

"The Self Concept: Basis for Reeducation of Negro Youth,"
in William.Kravaceus (ed.), Negro Self Concept: Implications
for School and Citizenship. New York: .McGraweHill Company, 1965.

Green, Robert L. "After School Integration - What? Problems in Social
Learning," Personnel and Guidancg, XLIV, No. 7 (1966), 70A—710.

Gross, Neal and Herriot, Robert E. Staff Leadership in Public Schools.
New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1965.

Mason, ward 8., and.McEachern, Alexander W. Explorations
in Role Analysis: Studies of the School Superintendency Role.
New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1958.

Havighurst, Robert J. "Urban Development and the Educational System,"
in A. Harry Passow (ed.) Education in Depressed Areas. New York:
Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University,
1963.

Herriot, Robert E. and St. John, Nancy H. Social Class and the Urban
School. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 196675

Hyman, Herbert H. "The Psychology of Status," Archives of Psychology.
(l9A2), NO. 269.

Kerlinger, Fred. Foundations of Behavioral Research. New York: Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 196A.

Kinch, John W. "Formalized Theory of the SelfeConcept," The American
Journal of Sociology, LXVIII (1963). A81-A86.

Mead, George H. Mind, Self and Society. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 193A.

Merton, Robert K. Social Theory and Social Structure. Glencoe, Illinois:
The Free Press, 1957. '

78

Morse, Richard J. "Self Concept of Ability, Significant Others and
School Achievement of Eighth-Grade Students: A Comparative
Investigation of Negro and Caucasian Students." Unpublished
Master's thesis, Michigan State University, 1963.

Peatman, John B. Introduction to Applied Statistics. New York:
Harper and Row, 1963.

 

Rich, John M. "How Social Class values Affect Teacher—Pupil
Relations," Journal of Educational Sociology, V01. 33

(may, 1960), 355-359.

Sanborn, Marshall P. and Wasson, Robert M. "Guidance of Students
with Special Characteristics," Review of Educational Research,
vol. XXXVI, No. 2, (April, l966),308—322.

 

Sexton, Patricia. Education and Income,_lnequalities of Education
in Our Public Schools. New York: Viking Press, 1961.

 

Warner, W. Lloyd and Bailey, Wilfred C. Democracy_in Jonesville.
New York: Harper, 19A9.

Havighurst, Robert J., and Loeb, Martin B. Who Shall Be
Educated?: The Challenge of Unegpal Opportunities. New York:
Harper and Row, l9AA.

Wilson, Alan B. "Educational Consequences of Segregation in a
California Community," in Appendices (C-3), VOlume II,
Racial Isolation in the Public Schools. Washington, D.C.:
U. S. Government Printing Office, (1967), 165-206.

 

"Social Stratification and Academic Achievement," in
A. Harry Passow (ed.) Education in Depressed Areas. New York:
Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University,
1963.

APPENDIX A

TABLES INDICATING RACIAL COMPOSITION
OF SCHOOLS IN THIS STUDY

80

Final Report of Citizens Committee Studying
Racial Imbalance in the School System

PERCENT NONaWHITE PUPIL ENROLLMENT
IN SELECTED ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

(1950-65)

School 1950-51 1955:56 1960-61 l96A-65

01 1% 2% 12% 37%
02 - - 93 93
05 7A 81 91 79
07 69 81 82 88
08 2 29 36 58
ll 2 26 73 90
12 A3 80 88 96
13 A 18 Al 57
16 22 A7 79 8A

Total Enrollment in
Elementary
Schools 12,372 15,657 16,996 20,017

Total NonPWhite

Enrollment in

Elementary

Schools 888 1,930 3,059 3,888

Total White Enroll-
ment in Elementary
Schools ll,A8A 13,727 13,937 16,129

Average of all
Elementary
Schools 7% 12% 18% 19%

M
59%
93
78
89
75
9A
96
63
82

19,830

u,007

15.823

20.2%

81

INNER-CITY ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
PERCENT NON-WHITE ENROLIJIENT

 

 

Racial Percent Non-White Percent Non-White
EEEEZZL Efiffiflfii in Grade 6 in School
01 3 62 6A
02 1 77 89
O3 2 O 0
0A 2 9 IO
*05 1 7A 69
06 2 6 6
07 1 ' 81 92
08 3 75 7A
09 2 0 0
IO 2 O O
11 l 95 95
12 l 100 99
13 3 71 57
1A 2 O O
15 2 O O
16 3 79 79

1 - Predominantly Negro
2 - Predominantly White
3 - Racially-Mixed

*Because of recent boundary changes this school's racial composition
was changed. School still categorized by peOple in community as
"predominantly Negro".

APPENDIX B

INSTRUIVIENI‘: SELF CONCEPT OF ACADEMIC ABILITY
FORM D

83

Pick one. Circle the letter for your answer.

1.

3.

5.

7.

Think Of your friends. Do you think you can do school work better,
the same, or poorer than your friends?

a. better
b. the same
c. poorer

Think of the students in your class. Do you think you can do school
work better, the same, or poorer than the students in your class?

a. better
6. the same
c. poorer

When you graduate from high school, do you think you.will be with
the best students, average students, or below average students?

a. the best
b. average
0. below average

Do you think you could graduate from college?

a. yes
b. maybe
c. no

If you went to college, do you think you would be one of the best,
average, or poorest students?

a. the best
b. average
c. poorest

If you want to be a doctor or a teacher, you.need.more than four
years of college. DO you think you could do that?

a. yes
b. maybe
c. no

Forget how your teachers mark your work. How good do you think your
own work is?

a. excellent
b. average
c. below average

What marks do you think you really can get if you try?

a. A's and B's
b. B's and C's
c. D's and E's

APPENDIX C

INSTRUMENT: PERCEIVED TEACHER EVALUATIONS

85

Pretend you are your teacher. Answer like he or she would. Pick one. Circle
their answer.

1.

2.

3.

5.

Think of your teacher. WOuld your teacher say you can do school work
better, the same, or poorer than other peOple your age?

a. better
b. the same
c. poorer

WOuld your teacher say you would be with the best, average, or below
average students when you graduate from.high school?

a. the best

b. average
c. below average

Does your teacher think you could graduate from college?

a. yes
b. maybe
c. no

Remember you need more than four years of college to be a teacher or
doctor. Does your teacher think you could do that?

a. yes
b. maybe
c. no

What grades does your teacher think you can get?

a. A's and B's
b. B's and C's
c. D's and E's

APPENDIX D

INS'I'RUIVIJT: PERCEIVED TEACHER ACHIEVEMENT PREFERENCES

87

1. What would be the lowest grades you could get and still have your
teacher satisfied with you?

a. .Mostly A's

b. A's and B's

0. Mostly B's

d. B's and C's

e. Mostly C's

f. 0'5 and D's

g. Mostly D's

h. D's and E's

i. Mestly E's

3. My grades do not make any difference to my teacher.

APPENDIX E

INSTRUP’IEN'I‘: ACHIEVEIVIENT ASPIRATION S

89

1. What would be the lowest grades you could get and still be satisfied
with yourself?

a. Mostly A's
b. A's and B's
c. Mostly B's
d. B's and C's
e. Mostly C's
f. C's and D's
g. Mostly D's
h. D's and E's
1. Mostly E's
j. My grades do not make any difference to me.

APPENDIX F

TABLE OF MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS
OF MAJOR VARIABLES IN THIS STUDY

Means and Standard Deviations of Major

91

'Variables in This Study*

 

N .M 'W
Caucasian Students with (N=3l) (N=2l) (N=208)
Caucasian Teachers
S.D. S.D. S.D.
SCA 17.97 2.96 18.57 1.86 17.56 2.29
GPA 1.89 5.31 1.78 A.05 1.85 A.A2
PTEV 11.90 2.27 12.29 1.95 11.6A 1.76
Negro Students with (N=l27) (N=51)
Caucasian Teachers
SCA 18.59 2.A3 19.02 2.36
GPA 1.77 A.33 1.82 5.A2
PTEv 12.73 1.67 12.53 2.03

*Applying the "t" test (one-tailed) of significance of difference between
means it was fOund that there were no statistical differences between
means in this table ( p) .05).

"ATLANTA/11111111“