Investigating and Remedying Race Disparities in Education
Paper Session
Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM (CST)
- Chair: Javaeria Qureshi, University of Illinois-Chicago
From Retributive to Restorative: An Alternative Approach to Justice
Abstract
School districts historically approached conflict-resolution from a zero-sum perspective: suspend students seen as disruptive and potentially harm them, or avoid suspensions and harm their classmates. Restorative practices (RP) – focused on reparation and shared ownership of disciplinary justice – are designed to avoid this trade-off by addressing undesirable behavior without imparting harm. This study examines Chicago Public Schools’ adoption of RP. We identify decreased suspensions, improved school climate, and find no evidence of increased classroom disruption. We estimate a 19% decrease in arrests, including for violent offenses, with reduced arrests outside of school, providing evidence that RP substantively changed behavior.OK Boomer: Generational Differences in Teacher Quality
Abstract
We document that recent generations of elementary school teachers are significantly more effective in raising student test scores than those from earlier generations. Measuring teachers’ value-added for Black and white students separately, the improvements in teaching for Black students are significantly larger than those seen for white students. The race-specific improvements in teacher quality are driven by white teachers. Analyses of mechanisms suggest that changing teachers’ biases may be one potential channel. Our results suggest reason for optimism since these teacher quality differences should lead to improved student learning and a narrowing of the Black-white test score gap over time.New Findings on Racial Bias in Teachers' Assessments of Students
Abstract
This paper analyzes racial biases in teacher assessments of students using data on elementary and middle school students in the U.S. Following prior research, I assess biases by looking at racial differences in teacher assessments conditional standardized test scores, with the underlying assumption that standardized test scores are a good proxy for achievement. Key to this analysis, I demonstrate that addressing measurement error in test scores is important for obtaining unbiased estimates in this setting. After correcting for measurement error, in contrast to prior studies, I find that teachers assess Black and Hispanic students more positively than they do White peers with the same test scores. I posit that results are consistent with two different scenarios. First, findings are consistent with negative bias in perceptions of under-represented students leading teachers to have lower expectations for these students. If teachers hold Black and Hispanic students to a lower standard of achievement than they do White students, this could result in teachers assessing underrepresented minority students more highly than a White student with the same achievement level. Second, these findings are consistent with a mechanism in which teachers assess students accurately, but standardized tests are negatively biased towards Black and Hispanic students.Discussant(s)
Scott Carrell
,
University of California-Davis
Richard Mansfield
,
University of Colorado-Boulder
Seth Gershenson
,
American University
Stephen Ross
,
University of Connecticut
JEL Classifications
- I2 - Education and Research Institutions
- J1 - Demographic Economics