Color-Blind and Color-Conscious Racial Ideologies among White Teachers in Urban, Suburban, and Rural Areas

Abstract

This study examined the differences in teacher racial ideology among white teachers in urban, suburban, and rural areas. This study advances the scholarship on the ideological frames used by teachers in urban, suburban, and rural areas through an examination of the differences in teachers’ discourse and racial ideology. Using contact theory, this study employed interviews to examine teachers’ discourse related to racial inequality in education to determine whether there were similarities in teacher discourse within and across urban, suburban, and rural areas with differing racial compositions. Interviews were conducted with 42 teachers in urban, suburban, and rural school districts during the 2014-2015 school year. There were three major findings in this study. First, four original frames of color-conscious racial ideology were present in data across urban, suburban, and rural areas. Second, teachers across all areas employ the systemic responsibility frame to talk about the achievement gap, and the cultural racism frame to talk about increased violence in urban areas, revealing that teachers frame some topics similarly across areas of differing racial composition. Third, analysis of teacher racial ideologies using the eight frames of color-conscious and color-blind racial ideology reveal that teachers within Lincoln City, Gresham, and Arcadia employ specific frames within each area to talk about racial inequality in education. Further, teachers in Lincoln City and Gresham framed racial inequality in education more consistently using color-conscious frames than teachers in Arcadia, indicating that contact with outgroup members also shapes teacher racial ideology.