The Role of Teacher–Student Ethnoracial Matching in Student Identification for Special Education Services

The importance of teacher–student ethnoracial matching has been established as influential for students of color, with small but consistent impacts observed on a variety of outcomes including achievement, attendance, graduation, and college enrollment. Yet, little attention has been paid to the role of ethnoracial matching for students with disabilities. We ask if teacher–student ethnoracial matching is associated with a student’s referral for an initial special education evaluation. To address this, we rely on student-level longitudinal data for all Massachusetts public school students from kindergarten through Grade 12 between 2011 and 2018. Using a model that features school, grade, and year fixed effects, we report a 5% reduction in the likelihood of referral for special education evaluation when students share ethnoracial characteristics with their teachers. This is especially true in large schools (6% reduction) and appears to be driven by boys (7% reduction). We discuss implications as they pertain to the special education context.