Research has shown that having a teacher of color improves academic performance for all students. A working paper by the Annenberg Institute at Brown University found that students of color who had a teacher of color in fourth or fifth grade saw significant gains in reading and math test scores and were least likely to be chronically absent when in high school. White students also saw growth in reading and math test scores when paired with a teacher of color instead of a white teacher, with those effects lasting until high school.