Daniela Barriga

Numerous prior studies have asked how students of color fare when matched with a teacher who shares their racial or ethnic background. Unfortunately, almost nothing is known about how this plays out for students with disabilities (SWD). Using student-level longitudinal data for Massachusetts public school students in Grades 3–12 between 2011 and 2018, we examine math and ELA test scores, attendance, suspension, and graduation data for SWDs who experience an ethnoracial match.

She sits in the grass, her spine pressed to a silence that once had a heartbeat. It’s been three days since he left, and still she finds herself speaking in twos—grabbing one extra fork, dreaming two dreams, leaving space for a voice that no longer arrives. They used to sit like this. Back-to-back. A quiet ritual, like their bodies knew how to stay connected even when words failed. She runs her fingers over the small white flowers they once threaded into each other’s hair.

Elias woke up one morning to the soft rustling of leaves—not outside his window, but on his own face. He rushed to the mirror and gasped. His beard, once thick and black, had transformed into a dense patch of small, living leaves. He touched his chin, feeling the delicate veins of the greenery intertwined with his skin. As he pulled at one, pain shot through his jaw, as if he were plucking a hair from his very soul.