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Racial Discrimination in Grading: Evidence from Brazil

Author

Listed:
  • Fernando Botelho
  • Ricardo A. Madeira
  • Marcos A. Rangel

Abstract

We investigate whether racial discrimination in the form of biased assessment of students is prevalent within Brazilian schools. Evidence is drawn from unique administrative data pertaining to eighth-grade students and educators. Holding constant performance in blindly-scored tests of proficiency and behavioral traits we find that blacks have lower teacher-assigned math grades than their white classmates. Heterogeneity in differentials provides evidence both of robustness with respect to omission biases and of compatibility with predictions from models of statistical discrimination. (JEL I21, I24, J15, O15)

Suggested Citation

  • Fernando Botelho & Ricardo A. Madeira & Marcos A. Rangel, 2015. "Racial Discrimination in Grading: Evidence from Brazil," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(4), pages 37-52, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:7:y:2015:i:4:p:37-52
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/app.20140352
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Rangel, Marcos & Marotta, Luana & van der Werf, Cynthia & Duryea, Suzanne & Drouet Arias, Marcelo & Rodríguez Guillén, Lucina, 2024. "Barriers to Immigrant Assimilation: Evidence on Grading Bias in Ecuadorian High Schools," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 13434, Inter-American Development Bank.
    2. Alberto Alesina & Michela Carlana & Eliana La Ferrara & Paolo Pinotti, 2018. "Revealing Stereotypes: Evidence from Immigrants in Schools," NBER Working Papers 25333, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Bellés Obrero, Cristina & Lombardi, María, 2019. "Teacher Performance Pay and Student Learning: Evidence from a Nationwide Program in Peru," IZA Discussion Papers 12600, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Lavy, Victor & Sand, Edith, 2018. "On the origins of gender gaps in human capital: Short- and long-term consequences of teachers' biases," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 263-279.
    5. Lavy, Victor & Sand, Edith, 2015. "On The Origins of Gender Human Capital Gaps: Short and Long Term Consequences of Teachers’ Stereotypical Biases," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1085, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    6. Nicoletti, Cheti & Sevilla, Almudena & Tonei, Valentina, 2022. "Gender stereotypes in the family," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118044, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Ferman, Bruno & Fontes, Luiz Felipe, 2022. "Assessing knowledge or classroom behavior? Evidence of teachers’ grading bias," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    8. Claudia Contreras, 2018. "Discriminación de género en las calificaciones de las escuelas públicas uruguayas," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 0318, Department of Economics - dECON.
    9. Nicole Black & Sonja C. de New, 2020. "Short, Heavy and Underrated? Teacher Assessment Biases by Children's Body Size," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 82(5), pages 961-987, October.
    10. Rangel, Marcos A. & Shi, Ying, 2020. "First Impressions: The Case of Teacher Racial Bias," IZA Discussion Papers 13347, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Victor Lavy & Rigissa Megalokonomou, 2019. "Persistency in Teachers’ Grading Bias and Effects on Longer-Term Outcomes: University Admissions Exams and Choice of Field of Study," NBER Working Papers 26021, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Huong Thu Le & Ha Trong Nguyen, 2018. "The evolution of the gender test score gap through seventh grade: new insights from Australia using unconditional quantile regression and decomposition," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-42, December.
    13. Shi, Ying & Zhu, Maria, 2023. "“Model minorities” in the classroom? Positive evaluation bias towards Asian students and its consequences," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    14. Thomas van Huizen, 2021. "Teacher bias or measurement error bias? Evidence from track recommendations," Working Papers 2113, Utrecht School of Economics.
    15. Cristina Bellés-Obrero & María Lombardi, 2020. "Teacher Performance Pay and Student Learning: Evidence from a Nationwide Program in Peru," Department of Economics Working Papers wp_gob_2020_04, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella.
    16. Ferman, Bruno & Fontes, Luiz Felipe, 2020. "Discriminating Behavior: Evidence from teachers’ grading bias," MPRA Paper 100400, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Zhu, Maria, 2024. "New Findings on Racial Bias in Teachers' Evaluations of Student Achievement," IZA Discussion Papers 16815, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Marisa Bucheli & Claudia Contreras, 2018. "Discriminación de género en las calificaciones de las escuelas públicas uruguayas," Documentos de trabajo 2018008, Banco Central del Uruguay.
    19. Tumen, Semih & Vlassopoulos, Michael & Wahba, Jackline, 2021. "Training Teachers for Diversity Awareness: Impact on School Attendance of Refugee Children," IZA Discussion Papers 14557, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Thomas van Huizen & Madelon Jacobs & Matthijs Oosterveen, 2024. "Teacher bias or measurement error?," Papers 2401.04200, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2024.
    21. Delaney, Judith M. & Devereux, Paul J., 2023. "Gender Differences in Teacher Judgement of Comparative Advantage," IZA Discussion Papers 16635, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    22. Lange, Andreas & Miniesy, Rania & Nicklisch, Andreas & Rabie, Dina & Bock, Olaf & Ross, Johannes, 2023. "Sharing norms and negotiations across cultures: Experimental interactions within and between Egypt and Germany," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 412-440.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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    1. Racial Discrimination in Grading: Evidence from Brazil (American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 2015) in ReplicationWiki

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