ERIC Number: EJ1073933
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 39
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1557-3060
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Assessed by a Teacher Like Me: Race and Teacher Assessments
Ouazad, Amine
Education Finance and Policy, v9 n3 p334-372 Sum 2014
Do teachers assess same-race students more favorably? This paper uses nationally representative data on teacher assessments of student ability that can be compared with test scores to determine whether teachers give better assessments to same-race students. The data set follows students from kindergarten to grade 5, a period during which racial gaps in test scores increase rapidly. Teacher assessments comprise up to twenty items measuring specific skills. Using a unique within-student and within-teacher identification and while controlling for subject-specific test scores, I find that teachers do assess same-race students more favorably. Effects appear in kindergarten and persist thereafter. Robustness checks suggest that: student behavior does not explain this effect; same-race effects are evident in teacher assessments of most of the skills; grading "on the curve" should be associated with lower assessments; and measurement error in assessments or test scores does not significantly affect the estimates.
Descriptors: Race, Student Evaluation, Teacher Characteristics, Student Characteristics, Elementary School Students, Scores, Elementary School Teachers, Robustness (Statistics), Longitudinal Studies, Student Behavior, Skills, Academic Achievement, Error of Measurement, Grading
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A