Providing Fairer Perception of Discipline.

• Position: MINORITY TEACHERS - Brief article

Black students in schools with more black teachers have more-positive attitudes and higher perceptions of fairness in school discipline, according to a study which also found that white students who attend such schools are more likely to believe discipline from school officials is fair as well.

"Increasing the proportion of minority teachers in a school enhances all students' perceptions of school discipline fairness," says coauthor Don Haider-Markel, professor and chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Kansas, Lawrence. "Our findings provide empirical support for the arguments of some political theorists that the legitimacy of public institutions is enhanced when those institutions are staffed by people who look like the population more generally."

Because public schools provide young people with their first real interaction with government, it is important to study these environments and their effect on perceptions; the urgency...