Recently, Education Week reported that a study of teaching shows when a significant number of Black students move to a school, quality teachers migrate out. Teacher Migration. Teacher Migration Study

C. Kirabo Jackson, an associate professor of labor economics at Cornell University, in Ithaca, N.Y., studied patterns of teacher movement in Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools between 2002 and 2003, which was when the 137,000-student district ended its long-running policy of busing students to keep schools racially integrated. His results, published last month in the Journal of Labor Economics, show that, at all levels of schooling, high-quality teachers—both black and white—were more likely to switch schools as the policy change began to take effect and student populations shifted. “I’m not showing that teachers don’t like black students,” Mr. Jackson said. “I’m showing that, when you substantially change the makeup of the student population, teachers react in this way.”

For those who want to label this a purely racist impulse on the part of the migrating teacher, remember the study indicated that high quality Black teachers transferred as well.

Although some in the media want to opine that the election of President Obama means that we are now in a post-racial society Post-racial Society

The Sociology Guide defines class, “A social class is essentially a status group. Class is related to status.” Sociology Guide Roland G. Fryer, Jr. whose personal story is as compelling as his research was profiled in The Harvard Crimson Black Achievement Researcher He has researched the effect of “Black sounding names” on a child’s later success in life. One wonders what general perceptions of Michelle Obama would be if she had a more “Black sounding” first name. His research indicates that Black children test at level in kindergarten and begin to lag in first grade. According to the Harvard profile, “blacks perform almost as well as whites on standardized achievement tests in kindergarten, but begin to lag behind them in first grade. They suggested that a possible reason for this was that black children attended lower-performing schools than whites.”

One avenue of inquiry about achievement differences between the races and the migration of high achieving teachers of all races out of schools with a high influx of Black students should center on perceptions of class. Perceptions about what a middle class person of color should look like or how they should interact with others or classism could be as potent a force as traditional notions about race. Mrs. Obama has signaled that she shops at J Crew, Target and the GAP. That has a different perception for opinion makers than, an admission one shops at Kmart rather than Target. A research study which will be published in September finds that babyfaced Black executives have greater success than those who Black executives who look more mature. Babyfaced Black Executive These executives are not perceived to be sinister or threatening.

Many associate “Black” with hip hop culture and that is a threat to some. Some Blacks see the danger in the association of hip hop culture with “Blackness.” A post by G. Jeffrey Mac Donald at the Black Parent Movement Blog Black Parent Movement Blog

expresses concern about the ghettoization of the culture. Ghetto values are generally not associated with education achievement. For teacher professionals wanting to make a positive impact, the perception that a school might become ghettoized could be the stimulus to flee. The discussion of race in American society has always been complex.

The fact that so many quality teachers choose to migrate is troubling, but it may not be as simple as tagging the problem as racism on their part.

Dr. Wilda says this about that ©