Penn GSE Study Finds Students Benefit Most When Teachers Share Both Their Background and Language Skills

A new study coauthored by Penn GSE’s Michael A. Gottfried is the first to show that teachers’ ability to teach in students’ home language, combined with a shared racial or ethnic background, drives greater academic gains. The study builds on previous research demonstrating that ethnoracial matching produces academic benefits. 

Published in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, the study—“Both/And: Students’ Academic Benefits of Sharing Race/Ethnicity and Language With Their Teachers”—uncovers that ethnoracial matching is only part of the story when it comes to student success. The gains are even greater when teachers can teach in students’ native tongue or have strong language instruction skills. Jennifer Freeman of Texas Tech University and Anna Egalite of North Carolina State University are co-authors of the study.

Key Findings

•  Language skills matter. Beyond sharing race or ethnicity, teachers who can instruct in students’ home language or demonstrate high proficiency in language-rich pedagogy help students achieve more.
• Stronger results in reading and language arts. Gains were especially evident in subjects where discourse, vocabulary, and comprehension are central.
• Matching plus language is most powerful. Teacher–student similarity in both background and language skills produced the largest improvements in outcomes.

“This is the first study to show that teachers’ ability to connect with students in their own language meaningfully boosts achievement,” said Michael Gottfried, professor at Penn GSE. “It’s not just about who the teacher is, but how they can communicate and engage with students through language.”

Implications for Education

• Hiring and staffing: Schools can maximize equity by not only diversifying teacher demographics, but also prioritizing language proficiency to meet the needs of multilingual learners.
• Training and support: Teacher preparation and professional development should include strategies for teaching in students’ home languages and strengthening discourse-based instruction.
• Policy impact: Findings suggest that language proficiency should be a critical factor in workforce planning, particularly in linguistically diverse school systems.

About Michael A. Gottfried
Michael A. Gottfried is a professor in Penn GSE’s Policy, Organizations, Leadership, and Systems division. An applied economist of education, his research focuses on student absenteeism, teacher diversity, language learning, and equity in education. He has advised local, state, and national policymakers on strategies to close opportunity gaps.

About Penn GSE
The University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE) is one of the nation’s premier research centers for education. Its faculty address pressing challenges across the globe through scholarship, practice, and policy.