Ava May
Pronouns: Sher/Her/Hers
Research Mentor(s): Matthew Ronfeldt
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Educational Studies / Education
Program:
Authors: Ava May, Matthew Truwit, Matthew Ronfeldt
Session: Session 3: 11:00 am – 11: 50 am
Poster: 86
Abstract
Educational systems and resources have long been built to—intentionally or unintentionally—provide the upper hand to White individuals. One of the many ways prior research has shown this involves how Black teachers receive worse evaluations on average than White teachers despite being otherwise similarly effective in the classroom (Campbell, 2020). Various rationales for why ratings differ exist, including bias built into the rubric used to rate teachers (Danielson Framework for Teaching), racial bias from those performing the observation, or genuine differences in teaching practices between teachers. Our research uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods to explore these possibilities for why Black teachers tend to receive lower scores than their comparable White colleagues. Using data from the Measures of Effective Teaching study, we draw a sample of 84 video-recorded lessons from the highest rated Black and White female middle-school English and math teachers. For each recording, we transcribe and code the lessons for the presence of various questioning and discussion-promoting teacher moves seen on the rubric where racial disparities in scores are greatest. We focus on analyzing the frequency with which teachers ask open- and closed-ended questions to students and where they occur within the lesson to determine if differences in ratings are attributable to actual differences in practices. Preliminary results show that, Black women, despite receiving lower scores, instead ask more questions on average than White women; in subsequent analyses, we plan to explore the relationship between subject, question type, and teacher race. While inequities in observation ratings are only a portion of the bias within our education system that disproportionately affects students and teachers of color, we hope that better understanding their source can play a small role in addressing the inequitable reports of Black teachers’ performance and the resulting unnecessary consequences they face.
