Weiher, Gregory R.2015-08-282015-08-28December 22013-12http://hdl.handle.net/10657/1097This dissertation explores the manner in which descriptive representation in the classroom affects academic achievement for African-American and Latino students. Long-standing problems of both equality of access and equality of outcomes have caused a trend toward a greater level of centralized authority in public education. This centralized authority is particularly powerful in making decisions for schools that serve low-income, African-American and Latino students, who have historically lagged behind their White and Asian counterparts in academic performance. The lack of autonomy in low-income, urban schools may be precisely what is keeping teachers and administrators in these schools from being effective. Although much of the literature on bureaucratic representation indicates that same race-bureaucrats are able to produce desired policy outcomes for those whom they represent, I find that black and Hispanic teachers are not able to turn descriptive representation of their students into substantive results, given the present policy environment. I argue that much of the influence that teachers would have on their students is limited by factors beyond their control. These factors include a lack of administrator autonomy, which ties the hands of administrators and teachers, keeping them from making decisions that might otherwise result in better outcomes for their students. I further find that in certain cases, descriptive representation does have a positive impact on student performance when it is paired with a high level of administrator autonomy.application/pdfengThe author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).EducationPoliciesDescriptive representationBureaucratic RepresentationAdministrator AutonomyStudent achievementPolitical science2015-08-28Thesisborn digital