Discrimination in track recommendation but not in grading: experimental evidence among primary school teachers in Hungary

Kisfalusi, Dorottya and Hermann, Zoltán and Keller, Tamás (2024) Discrimination in track recommendation but not in grading: experimental evidence among primary school teachers in Hungary. EUROPEAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW, 20. pp. 1-15. ISSN 0266-7215

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Abstract

This study examines discrimination in teacher assessments and track recommendations against Roma minority students in Hungary. We conducted a pre-registered randomized experiment among 413 primary school teachers. Participating teachers evaluated six mathematics or literacy and grammar tests with fictitious, randomized student names and recommended a high school track. Our results show mixed evidence for discrimination against Roma students: teachers do not discriminate in test evaluations but do so in high school track recommendations, though this latter effect is small. We find that contextual factors play a substantial role in discrimination in track recommendations: teachers who receive tests with fewer Roma than non-Roma names discriminate against Roma students, whereas teachers who receive tests with more Roma names do not. In the latter case, non-Roma students receive similarly low track recommendations as Roma students in both experimental conditions. The results are consistent with stereotype-based theories of discrimination.

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