Teachers always have their favorite students.
But when does this favoritism turn into bias?
Hi guys, Lissette here for DNews.
Teachers are an important part of our learning and development.
I still remember every single one of my elementary school teachers - the ones I thought were
good as well as the ones I thought were not as good.
But what did they think of me?
Or you?
How did that affect our learning?
Well, a recent study, published in the Journal Economics of Education Review, looked at data
from thousands of students across the US* and their teachers to see where race and gender
fall into the equation.
In the study, different teachers were asked to rate the same 10th grade student and predict
his or her highest level of educational attainment.
The researchers found that predictions varied based on the gender and race of both the student
and teacher.
In general, the expectations of black teachers for black students were 30 to 40 percent higher
than those held by non-black teachers.
In other words, they believed black students would do far better.
To illustrate, 37 percent of black teachers, when asked about a black student, let’s
call her Samantha, thought she would obtain a four year college degree.
In contrast, only 28% of white teachers thought she would do so.
Now if she were a Samuel instead, this effect would be even greater.
White male teachers, in particular, have very low expectations of black boys.
They don’t believe they’ll do as well.
The problem is… that what teachers believe has a serious impact on student outcomes.
We know from this and other studies that expectations matter.
In this particular study, the researchers found black students who had a non-black teacher
in a specific subject in 10th grade were less likely to pursue that subject later in their
schooling.
But it’s more than just subject area preferences.
It influences how well students do in school and to some degree the quality of their education.
In the infamous Pygmalion In The Classroom study from the 1960s, researchers Rosenthal
and Jacobson conducted an experiment with elementary children in public school.
At the beginning of the school year, the researchers gave all students an IQ test as a baseline.
They then told teachers, erroneously, that a certain subset of the those students would
show an “intellectual growth spurt” over the course of that year.
This was a lie.
In fact, the students were chosen at random.
But, that suggestion to teachers had a measurable effect: by the end of the year, the students
who were labeled as growth spurt students actually did perform better than the rest
of their classmates.
On average, they gained 3.8 IQ points more.
And, these differences were even greater for younger children.
Looking at first grade students only, the difference was 15.4 IQ points.
This suggests that there is a sort of self-fulling prophecy happening.
Teachers who believe their students will do well are more likely to act in ways that will
lead to that happening.
Since the 60s, other studies have dug in to try to figure out what exactly teachers might
doing that leads to bias.
And, it looks like it could be things like - giving children they believe are smart more
time to answer questions when called on, giving them more challenging questions, or recommending
them for gifted and talented programs.
Teacher expectations are powerful.
So much so, that today, we largely consider it unethical to label students the way we
did in the Pygmalion study.
It wouldn’t be right to knowingly put some students at a disadvantage.
Which is why labels like race and gender are so tricky in a classroom.
These labels don’t require a researcher: Teachers can automatically and involuntarily
apply them to students.
So, it is especially important to grapple with and examine the expectations attached
to them.
CTA video For a deeper dive into race itself - what
it really is and what it means, check out this episode on The Science of Racism.
Did you have an experience where you felt your teacher was biased against you?
Or maybe favored you in some way?
Share your thoughts in the comments and remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode
of DNews.
Thanks for watching.