The Effect of School-Based Accountability on the Implicit Bias of Teachers

• In Event: Minding the Gap in Accountability Policy Implementation

Abstract

We examine how School-Based Accountability (SBA) systems influence educational inequality by studying the impact of standards-raising on teachers’ belief systems. We combined data on whether schools were meeting accountability goals for Black students and the implicit racial bias of teachers under No Child Left Behind. We leverage the within state variation in the proportion of schools in a county that are meeting accountability goals for Black students. Failing to meet SBA goals for Black students causes a decrease in the skin tone implicit bias of teachers. The decrease constitutes either a shift away from pro-White bias or towards pro-Black bias. SBA policies should be designed to promote equitable implicit biases among educators.

Authors

• Joshua Bleiberg, University of Pittsburgh
  Presenting Author

• Richard Blissett, University of Maryland - Baltimore County
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kourtney Clark, University of Georgia
  Non-Presenting Author