Discrimination Based on Prior Grades: Results from a Field Experiment

• In Event: 454 - Section on Sociology of Education Paper Session. International Perspectives on Education

Abstract

Grades are used to determine important social outcomes like tracking, scholarships, college admissions, and even employment. However, grades do not always accurately reflect student performance. Studies show, for example, that teachers discriminate in grading based on students’ ascribed characteristics (such as race or gender). The literature is largely silent, however, on whether teachers discriminate based on students’ achieved characteristics. In particular, we hypothesize that grades are not only the outcome of grading discrimination, but may also lead to further grading discrimination. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a field experiment in which teachers graded a series of essays with the randomly assigned student characteristics of (either low or high) prior grades crosscut with gender (girl or boy). We find that essays ostensibly written by students with low as opposed to high prior grades are graded 0.55 standard deviations (SDs) lower. We also find a negative interaction effect between prior grades and gender: teachers impose an additional 0.28 SD penalty when essays are ostensibly written by girls with low prior grades. Third, we find that teachers with higher levels of education discriminate more on the basis of prior grades while teaching experience does not matter either way.

Authors

• James Chu, Stanford

• Prashant K Loyalka, Stanford

• Huan Wang, Shaanxi Normal University