Sebastian Otten (University of Duisburg-Essen)
Julia Bredtmann and Christina Vonnahme
We analyze whether teachers discriminate against ethnic minority students with regard to grading. Using comprehensive data on students in German primary and secondary schools, we compare studentsÂ’ scores on standardized, anonymously graded achievement tests with non-anonymous teacher ratings within a difference-in-difference (DiD) framework. While minority students score lower on the standardized test than majority students, this achievement gap is significantly reduced when being graded by the teacher. This finding cannot be fully explained by the higher barriers on the standardized test faced by minority students. Instead, our results suggest that teachers have a positive evaluation bias towards ethnic minority students.