Do School Counselors Exhibit Bias in Recommending Students for Advanced Coursework?

Abstract

In this paper, we seek to understand minority and female underrepresentation in advanced STEM courses in high school by investigating whether school counselors exhibit racial or gender bias during the course assignment process. Using an adapted audit study, we asked a sample of school counselors to evaluate student transcripts that were identical except for the names on the transcripts, which were varied randomly to suggestively represent a chosen race and gender combination. Our results indicate that black female students were less likely to be recommended for AP Calculus and were rated as being the least prepared. Our results have policy implications for any program that asks individuals to make recommendations that may be subject to bias – whether conscious or unconscious.

An Honors Teacher Like Me: Effects of Access to Same-Race Teachers on Black Students’ Advanced-Track Enrollment and Performance

“…Another important avenue of research to consider may be the role of administrators and nonteaching staff on student course-taking patterns. For instance, audit studies suggest counselor biases may affect recommendations of which students should take advanced coursework (Francis et al, 2019); additional studies looking at whether counselors of color affect advanced course-taking rates would be useful in determining how staff-of-color affect student outcomes. Along similar lines, an interesting set of studies could look at the effect of principal race on advanced-track course-taking; principal race is associated with gifted identification for Black student and could similarly affect advanced-track course-taking behaviors (Grissom et al, 2017), either through role model effects or by affecting patterns of staffing to advanced-track courses.…”

Beyond students: how teacher psychology shapes educational inequality

“…Even at the psychological level, the attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs of myriad others influence students' academic outcomes. School administrators are often responsible for final decisions on matters such as academic placement and discipline, and research shows that principals [96] and school counselors [97] can exhibit racial bias in these decisions even with no input from teachers. Parents may be differentially likely to recognize the potential of their children and advocate for advanced placement [98], perhaps in part due to psychological factors such as their own biases (e.g., gender stereotypes [99]) or cultural factors.…”

Separate and Unequal Under One Roof: How the Legacy of Racialized Tracking Perpetuates Within-School Segregation

“…Research seeking to answer this question has paralleled the literature on explanations for the persistent black-white test score gap where both structural and cultural arguments have been advanced. Structural arguments include the differential likelihood of teachers and academic counselors to encourage similarly qualified black versus white high school students to take advanced coursework and prepare for college (Archbald, Glutting, and Qian 2009;Darity and Jolla 2009;Francis, de Oliveira, and Dimmitt 2019;Gershenson, Holt, and Papageorge 2016;Oakes 2005); racial wealth disparities that lead to differences in access to resources that make AP courses less intimidating like outside tutoring (Diamond 2006); and lack of access to social circles where students and parents trade knowledge on the best courses to take (Coleman 1988;Hale 2001).…”