Black and White Students' Perceptions of Teacher Treatment

Abstract

This study explored Black and White fifth-grade students' perceptions of teachers' treatment. Black and White fifth graders of similar achievement levels were selected from 10 schools in a large Mid-Atlantic public school system. The students were administered the Teacher Treatment Inventory (TTI) (Weinstein, 1984). Analysis of variance, with achievement (as measured by the California Achievement Test) as the covariate revealed that there were no significant differences reported on the TTI between the whole group of Black students and the whole group of White students on the total battery score of the TTI, nor on any of the three sub-scales. Additionally, an item analysis using t tests indicated no significant differences between Black students and White students on any of the 30 items of the TTI for the total group of students. When the data were analyzed by sex, however, we found differences on individual items and subscales between Black males and the other subgroups of White males, Black females, and White females. The Black males appeared to perceive that their teachers treated them in ways that, according to the literature, teachers treat lower achieving students.