Teacher & Mentor Relationships and Student Academic Achievement.

Teacher and mentor relationships are one of the most important school experiences shaping students' academic outcomes. This paper examines the association between multiple dimensions of teacher and mentor relationships and student academic achievement in a midsized urban district in the Midwest using a school climate survey and linked administrative data. Preliminary results show that Black students report lower levels of almost all aspects of teacher and mentor relationships compared to other students including equitable treatment, respectful treatment, and trust and respect for their teacher. Results from multivariate models indicate that teacher and mentor relationships are predictive of student academic achievement as measured by transcript grades.1 However, these overall associations mask variation across groups: most aspects of teacher and mentor relationships were predictive of academic achievement for White and Asian students, but not Black or Latino students. These findings highlight two ways that social relations contribute to the racial achievement gap: inequality in the quality of relationships with teachers and mentors, and inequality in the impact of these relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]