NEWS 25 - WEHT: Evansville, Henderson, Owensboro-Expert: 'Mismatch' to blame for school race gap
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Associated Press - November 22, 2009 4:34 PM ET
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - A researcher says a "cultural mismatch" between teachers and students is partly to blame for a huge racial disparity in Illinois school discipline.
Indiana University professor Russell Skiba (SKEE'-buh) says a predominantly white teaching corps might sometimes misinterpret minority students' actions not meant to be disruptive or threatening.
An Associated Press analysis of the latest data found that blacks make up half of all student suspensions although they represent only one-fifth of the enrollment.
The gap between white and black has widened in the 10 years since the Rev. Jesse Jackson marched on Decatur, Ill., to protest six black students' expulsions.
But University of Georgia researcher Jeffrey Jordan found in a study of 1 district that black teachers refer black kids for discipline more often than white instructors.
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