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Do School Counselors Exhibit Bias in Recommending Students for Advanced Coursework?

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  • Francis Dania V.

    (Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 203 Crotty Hall, 412 N. Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01002, USA)

  • de Oliveira Angela C. M.

    (Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA)

  • Dimmitt Carey

    (Department of Student Development, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA)

Abstract

In this paper, we seek to understand minority and female underrepresentation in advanced STEM courses in high school by investigating whether school counselors exhibit racial or gender bias during the course assignment process. Using an adapted audit study, we asked a sample of school counselors to evaluate student transcripts that were identical except for the names on the transcripts, which were varied randomly to suggestively represent a chosen race and gender combination. Our results indicate that black female students were less likely to be recommended for AP Calculus and were rated as being the least prepared. Our results have policy implications for any program that asks individuals to make recommendations that may be subject to bias – whether conscious or unconscious.

Suggested Citation

  • Francis Dania V. & de Oliveira Angela C. M. & Dimmitt Carey, 2019. "Do School Counselors Exhibit Bias in Recommending Students for Advanced Coursework?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 19(4), pages 1-17, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:19:y:2019:i:4:p:17:n:2
    DOI: 10.1515/bejeap-2018-0189
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    Cited by:

    1. Button, Patrick & Walker, Brigham, 2020. "Employment discrimination against Indigenous Peoples in the United States: Evidence from a field experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    2. Luca Fumarco & Benjamin Harrell & Patrick Button & David Schwegman & E Dils, 2020. "Gender Identity, Race, and Ethnicity-based Discrimination in Access to Mental Health Care: Evidence from an Audit Correspondence Field Experiment," NBER Working Papers 28164, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. 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).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    human capital; STEM participation; race; gender;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D90 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - General
    • 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
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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