We assess whether ethnic minority pupils are subject to low teacher expectations. We exploit the English testing system of 'quasi-blind' externally marked tests and 'nonblind' internal assessment to compare differences in these assessment methods between white and ethnic minority pupils. We find evidence that some ethnic groups are systematically underassessed relative to their white papers, while some are overassessed. We propose a stereotype model in which a teacher's local experience of an ethnic group affects assessment of current pupils; this is supported by the data.
Authors
![Ellen Greaves](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-07/Ellen%20Greaves.jpg?itok=J-3p-Hxf)
Research Fellow University of Bristol
Ellen, who was a Senior Research Economist at IFS and is now a Research Fellow, is a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute.
![Person graphic](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-06/IFS-person-graphic.png?itok=hWCtTSrz)
Simon Burgess
Journal article details
- Publisher
- University of Chicago
- Issue
- July 2013
Suggested citation
Burgess, S and Greaves, E. (2013). 'Test scores, subjective assessment and stereotyping of ethnic minorities' (2013)
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