Elder, Todd and Zhou, Yuqing
The black-white gap in non cognitive skills among elementary school children - American Economic Journal: Applied Economics - 13(1), Jan, 2021: p.105-132
Using two nationally representative datasets, we find large differences between Black and White children in teacher-reported measures of noncognitive skills. We show that teacher reports understate true Black-White skill gaps because of reference bias: teachers appear to rate children relative to others in the same school, and Black students have lower-skilled classmates on average than do White students. We pursue three approaches to addressing these reference biases. Each approach nearly doubles the estimated Black-White gaps in noncognitive skills, to roughly 0.9 standard deviations in third grade. – Reproduced
Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
The black-white gap in non cognitive skills among elementary school children - American Economic Journal: Applied Economics - 13(1), Jan, 2021: p.105-132
Using two nationally representative datasets, we find large differences between Black and White children in teacher-reported measures of noncognitive skills. We show that teacher reports understate true Black-White skill gaps because of reference bias: teachers appear to rate children relative to others in the same school, and Black students have lower-skilled classmates on average than do White students. We pursue three approaches to addressing these reference biases. Each approach nearly doubles the estimated Black-White gaps in noncognitive skills, to roughly 0.9 standard deviations in third grade. – Reproduced
Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth