Racial Attitudes of PreK–12 and Postsecondary Educators: Descriptive Evidence From Nationally Representative Data

Abstract

PreK–12 and postsecondary educators’ racial attitudes have important consequences for students’ learning and development, yet we know little about educators’ racial attitudes overall, how their attitudes might differ from those of noneducators, or how attitudes might be changing over time. I investigate these questions using the nationally representative General Social Survey. Some educators hold worrisome racial attitudes, yet compared to noneducators, educators are less opposed to governmental equalizing efforts, give more politically liberal explanations for racial inequalities, express less negative racial stereotypes, and report less social distance and collective resentments toward minoritized groups. Many educator/noneducator differences were explained by demographics, particularly education level. Time trends mostly show progress in Americans’ racial attitudes, with generally similar trends for educators and noneducators.