Discriminating Behavior: Evidence of Teachers' Grading Bias

Abstract

Recent evidence has established that non-cognitive skills are key determinants of education and labor outcomes, and are malleable throughout adolescence. However, little is known about the mechanisms producing these results. This paper tests a channel that could explain part of the association between non-cognitive skills and important outcomes: teacher grading discrimination toward student behaviors. Evidence is drawn from a unique data pertaining to students from middle and high-school in Brazilian private schools. Our empirical strategy is based on the contrasting of school-level tests graded by teachers and school-level tests that cover the same content but are graded blindly. Using detailed data on student classroom behaviors and holding constant performance in exams graded blindly, evidence indicates that teachers inflate the grades of better-behaved students while deducting points from worse-behaved ones. These biases are driven by grading discrimination in exams with open questions. Additionally, teachers' behavior does not appear to be consistent with statistical discrimination.

Barriers to Immigrant Assimilation: Evidence on Grading Bias in Ecuadorian High Schools

“…Table 4 expands the analysis and investigates the robustness of findings with respect to the omission of socio-emotional characteristics. Considering that students' socio-emotional traits are often accounted for in teachers' subjective evaluations (Ferman and Fontes, 2020), the omission of these traits will likely bias the results if immigrants are perceived to behave differently in class. We also control for parental involvement, which can also influence the grades that teachers assign to students.…”

Investigating Racial Bias and Attribution Error in Grading Student Performance

“…For example, Pigott and Cowen (2000) explored the extent to which perceived student race factors into teachers' judgment of student work. To illustrate, if a teacher is negatively biased toward students of color, they may see those students not as talented as White students, which may cause them to judge the student's work based on that perception (Ferman & Fontes, 2021;Jussim, 1989;Jussim et al, 2020). Indeed, "any internalized racial prejudice can activate biases and lead teachers to use discriminatory performance evaluations" (Wood & Graham, 2010, p. 177).…”

Does chubby can get lower grades than skinny Sophie? Using an intersectional approach to uncover grading bias in German secondary schools

“…The most plausible explanation for grading bias, for which there is supporting evidence, is that teachers’ evaluations of students’ abilities are affected by the stereotypical beliefs they hold about specific groups [ 29 , 37 , 53 ]. Furthermore, students’ classroom behaviour has been found to have an effect on grades [ 11 , 54 , 55 ].…”

“…There are two dominant related explanatory approaches for grading bias: student behaviour in the classroom [ 11 , 54 , 55 ] and the stereotypes teachers hold of different groups [ 29 , 37 , 53 ].…”

“…This can result in lower grades [ 49 , 66 , 67 ] either through teacher perceptions and possible prejudice or by incorporating student behaviours in their grading schemes. Studies indicate that teachers give higher grades to students who are more well-adjusted and lower grades to students with more challenging behaviour [ 54 ]. Contrary to expectations, a study using data from Germany finds that overweight boys were more affected by bias than overweight girls.…”