Abstract:

Building on prior research suggesting increases in the percent students of color and low-income students in a class is associated with overall lower quality instruction, we use panel data to examine how teachers’ instruction changes given the different racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic status compositions of their classes. We analyze these associations along dimensions of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System. Results of fixed-effects regression analysis find that instruction is robust with respect to changes in classroom composition within teachers. This finding suggests that other factors such as teacher sorting or resource allocation likely account for the lower quality of instruction experienced by these student populations.