Description/Abstract
Asian Americans are often perceived as a “model minority” in classrooms. While this stereotype seems positive, it may raise expectations for Asian students and bolster negative stereotypes for students in other minority groups due to teacher bias. This brief summarizes findings from a study that used data from the North Carolina Education Research Data Center (NCERDC) from 2007 to 2013 to identify the presence of positive bias in teachers’ assessments towards Asian American students in grades 3-8 and its effects on other minority groups. The authors find that teachers rate Asian students’ academic skills more favorably than similar White students in the same classroom with the same performance and behavior. In addition, the ‘‘model minority” stereotype negatively impacts other minority groups. Teachers respond to the presence of any Asian student in the classroom by widening Black-White and Hispanic-White assessment gaps. The authors conclude that teacher assessment patterns that set Asian students apart from other groups of minority students harm all students.
Document Type
Policy Brief
Date
7-5-2023
Keywords
Teacher Evaluation, Racial Bias, Asian Americans
Language
English
Funder(s)
Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
Series
Policy Briefs Series
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Alyssa Kirk and Shannon Monat for edits on previous versions of this brief and Harneet Kaur for her work as a Research Assistant on this brief. The authors also thank the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs for support of this project through the Appleby Mosher Fund for Faculty Research.
Disciplines
Education Policy | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Public Policy | Race and Ethnicity
Recommended Citation
Shi, Y., & Zhu, M. (2023). Beyond the “Model Minority” Mirage: How Does Positive Bias Affect Asian Students and Other Students of Color?. Center for Policy Research. Policy Brief #5. Accessed at: https://surface.syr.edu/cpr/474.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
