Caring is an aspect of communication; therefore, if people communicate in different ways, they may not be able to communicate care to one another. In U.S. schools, which have a primarily White teaching force but an increasingly non-White student population, students and teachers may not be able to complete caring encounters based on their differing communication patterns. Therefore, it is important to understand what behaviors students view as caring so that teachers can complete caring encounters with their students. This dissertation research answered two related research questions: (1) What behaviors do students perceive as evidence of a caring teacher? (2) How do student perceptions of teacher caring vary based on student minority status?

To answer these research questions, I surveyed a diverse group of 825 sixth-grade students. Using Fordham & Ogbu's (1986) theory of minority groupings, I used ANOVA tests to compare students' responses to 50 possible caring teacher behaviors. The caring behaviors were grouped into three categories (Academic Caring, Fairness Caring, and Interpersonal Caring) based on a review of the literature.

There were 14 items that most students agreed on as being evidence of a caring teacher (9 Academic Caring, 3 Fairness Caring, and 2 Interpersonal Caring). There were 17 items on which there were significant differences in students' responses based on minority status. Students who identified with an autonomous minority group and students who identified with an involuntary minority group often differed in their perceptions of a given behavior as caring. The responses of those students who identified with a voluntary minority group were typically between the responses of those students who identified with an involuntary minority group and those who identified with an autonomous minority group. Finally, students who identified with an autonomous minority group typically rated a given behavior as stronger evidence of teacher caring than did students who identified with either voluntary or involuntary minority groups.

This research demonstrates that care does look different to different groups of students. Therefore, teachers must care for their students in culturally-congruent ways if all students are to receive the benefits of caring teacher-student relationships.