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Giving a little help to girls? evidence on grade discrimination and its effect on students' achievement

Terrier, Camille (2015) Giving a little help to girls? evidence on grade discrimination and its effect on students' achievement. CEP Discussion Papers (CEPDP1341). London School of Economics and Political Science. Centre for Economic Performance, London, UK.

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Abstract

This paper tests if gender-discrimination in grading affects pupils' achievements and course choices. I use a unique dataset containing grades given by teachers, scores obtained anonymously by pupils at different ages, and their course choice during high school. Based on double-differences, the identification of the gender bias in grades suggests that girls benefit from a substantive positive discrimination in math but not in French. This bias is not explained by girls' better behavior and only marginally by their lower initial achievement. I then use the heterogeneity in teachers' discriminatory behavior to show that classes in which teachers present a high degree of discrimination in favor of girls are also classes in which girls tend to progress significantly more than boys, during the school year but also during the next four years. Teachers' biases also increase the relative probability that girls attend a general high school and chose science courses.

Item Type: Monograph (Discussion Paper)
Official URL: http://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/series.asp?...
Additional Information: © 2012 The Authors
Divisions: Centre for Economic Performance
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology
JEL classification: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education > I21 - Analysis of Education
J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J16 - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
Date Deposited: 23 Apr 2015 14:56
Last Modified: 15 Sep 2023 23:35
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/61696

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