Over the past 22 years, our program has been committed to the idea that students of color benefit from having teachers with whom they can identify. During this period, studies have emerged that have supported this idea.

The most recent to come to my attention was an academic study published by the Institute of Labor Economics. WSHU-FM, a public radio station in Southern Connecticut, recently aired a report on the study.

The study, by professors at American University, University of California-Davis, and Johns Hopkins University, examined the long-term impact of teachers of color on their demographic counterparts.

The professors acknowledged findings that black primary-school students with a same-race teacher perform better on standardized tests, but they went further. They concluded that a black male student with a black teacher in the third, fourth, or fifth grade is much less likely to drop out of high school, particularly among the most economically disadvantaged black males.

In addition, the study found, exposure to at least one black teacher in grades 3-5 also increases the likelihood that low-income students of both sexes will aspire to attend a four-year college.

This makes it all the more important to recruit and retain more teachers of color in Connecticut’s schools. Read the WSHU-FM report here.

• Woody Exley