In reality, research is supposed to suggest that diversity among teachers leads to higher test scores. But some 45 years of looking has not, in fact, brought much evidence for that Politically Correct idea.
James Coleman wanted to report it in his celebrated 1966 Coleman Report, which was funded by the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
But his huge study came up with three unwanted findings:
- First, what kids bring from home (e.g., their nature and nurture) largely drive test scores.
- Second, teachers with good vocabularies and reading comprehension (i.e., higher IQs) have a mildly positive effect on their students.
- Third, black teachers, especially black male teachers, tended to have a big enough shortfall cognitively that they were, on average, slightly detrimental to their students.
Coleman worried over this finding—and then left it out of the Coleman Report.
He only confessed it years later, reflecting that he had betrayed his credentials as a scientist by censoring himself.
