ERIC Number: ED672053
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2022-May
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Bias in Kindergarten Ability Group Placement: Does Parental Lobbying Make It Worse? Do Formal Assessments Make It Better? EdWorkingPaper No. 22-576
Ana P. Cañedo; Paul T. von Hippel
Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University
Von Hippel & Cañedo (2021) reported that US kindergarten teachers placed girls, Asian-Americans, and children from families of high socioeconomic status (SES) into higher ability groups than their test scores alone would warrant. The results fit the view that teachers were biased. This comment asks whether parents' lobbying for higher placement might explain these results. The answer, for the most part, is no. Measures of parent-teacher contact explained little variation in children's ability group placement, and did not account for the higher placement of girls, Asian-Americans, or high-SES children. In fact, Asian-American parents had less teacher contact than did white children. It appears that the biases observed by von Hippel & Cañedo resided primarily in teachers, not in parents. We also ask whether teachers who used more objective assessment techniques were less biased in placing children into higher and lower ability groups. The answer, again, was no. Unfortunately, biases persisted in the face of objective information about students' skill. Fortunately, the biases were not terribly large.
Descriptors: Ability Grouping, Kindergarten, Racial Differences, Gender Differences, Socioeconomic Status, Gender Bias, Racism, Social Bias, Preschool Teachers, Teacher Student Relationship, Asian Americans, Parent Teacher Cooperation
Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. Brown University Box 1985, Providence, RI 02912. Tel: 401-863-7990; Fax: 401-863-1290; e-mail: annenberg@brown.edu; Web site: https://annenberg.brown.edu/
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education; Elementary Education; Kindergarten; Primary Education; Preschool Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A