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Who believes in me? The effect of student–teacher demographic match on teacher expectations
ARTICLE

, , School of Public Affairs ; , Department of Economics, United States

Economics of Education Review Volume 52, Number 1, ISSN 0272-7757 Publisher: Elsevier Ltd

Abstract

Teachers are an important source of information for traditionally disadvantaged students. However, little is known about how teachers form expectations and whether they are systematically biased. We investigate whether student–teacher demographic mismatch affects high school teachers’ expectations for students’ educational attainment. Using a student fixed effects strategy that exploits expectations data from two teachers per student, we find that non-black teachers of black students have significantly lower expectations than do black teachers. These effects are larger for black male students and math teachers. Our findings add to a growing literature on the role of limited information in perpetuating educational attainment gaps.

Citation

Gershenson, S., Holt, S.B. & Papageorge, N.W. (2016). Who believes in me? The effect of student–teacher demographic match on teacher expectations. Economics of Education Review, 52(1), 209-224. Elsevier Ltd. Retrieved March 27, 2023 from .

This record was imported from Economics of Education Review on March 1, 2019. Economics of Education Review is a publication of Elsevier.

Full text is availabe on Science Direct: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2016.03.002

Keywords

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