ABSTRACT
Changes in government, housing, health care, and the economy affect schools independently and jointly. It makes sense then that there is no single solution to educational disenfranchisement. This chapter overviews the promises and perils of ethnic matching and multicultural education as elements of an educational equity action plan. The logic underlying ethnic matching is simple. If teachers and students share cultural backgrounds, it ought to be easy to develop teacher– student relationships grounded in similar life experiences. Combining the TTI framework with SIT reveals how ethnic matching permeates the many dimensions of teacher– student relationships to yield higher academic outcomes. Identities and their associated norms are shaped by much more than race and ethnicity. Teaching for social justice begins with school leaders who are responsible for disrupting the cycle of social reproduction and stratification in schools that reinforces the culture of power. School leaders must establish educational conditions in which the potential of ethnic matching and ME can be maximized.
