Predictions of Teaching Effectiveness

With the existence of racial discrimination and literature supporting differential treatment of faculty of color there is the possibility that race could influence student evaluations of teaching effectiveness. There is an abundance of literature discussing student evaluations of teaching effectiveness and possible variables that could introduce bias. Yet limited literature exists that examines how student evaluations of teaching are affected by race. This study examined how student race and the race of a professor might influence evaluations of teaching effectiveness. A total of 192 psychology graduate students participated in the study. Participants were asked to predict the teaching effectiveness of either a hypothetical white female professor or African American female professor. The results indicated that race did not influence how students rated the hypothetical professors. Possible explanations for the study's findings are examined including selection bias social desirability and the application of the study design to real-life evaluations. The role of subtle discrimination is also discussed in addition to future research directions.