Poor Expectations : Experimental Evidence on Teachers~^!!^ Stereotypes and Student Assessment: Poor Expectations : Experimental Evidence on Teachers' Stereotypes and Student Assessment

Do teachers’ stereotypes of social class bias their assessment of students This study uses alab-in-the-field experiment among primary school teachers to test whether they are biased against poor students. Teachersassessed a student in a video of an oral exam after watching one of two versions of an introductory video that portrayedthe child’s home and playground. When the student in the exam video exhibited inconsistent performance, showingvarying levels of scholastic aptitude and focus during theexam, teachers were far more likely to judge his scholastic aptitude as below grade-level if they had watched theintroductory video portraying a poor background than if they had watched the introductory video portraying a middle-classbackground. The social class background portrayed in the introductory video did not affect teachers’ behavioralassessments of the student. When the student in the exam video was consistently high achieving, showing high levelsof scholastic aptitude and focus throughout the exam, teachers who watched the introductory video depicting a poorbackground were more likely to assess the student as above grade-level than teachers who watched the video conveying amiddle-class background. In this case, however, they had a more negative assessment of the child’s behavior when theythought he came from a poor background, deeming him to be less motivated and less emotionally mature than when theintroductory video depicted a middle-class background. These findings suggest that stereotypes influence how teachersassess the scholastic aptitude and behavior of their students.