This study investigated bias at the item level in six subtests of the California Achievement Tests (CAT). Variability of performance across all individual items of the CAT for fourth graders from three ethnic groups was examined. A two-factor (item scores and ethnicity) ANOVA procedure was used to examine the interaction between Anglo and Hispanic children and between Anglo and black subjects on individual test items of the subtests. Significant F-ratios for the Items x Groups interaction were further examined by using Bonerroni's post-hoc test for the purpose of identifying specific items reflecting cultural bias. A total of twenty-one items was identified as culturally biased. Of these items, sixteen were biased against Hispanics, three items were found to contain bias against blacks, and two items reflected bias against both Hispanic and black children. Of these twenty-one items identified as biased, eighteen belonged to four verbal subtests and three items are part of the two mathematics subtests. In addition to these items identified as being statistically biased, this study suggests that ethnocultural differences exist on overall performance levels between groups. For example, on the verbal subtests, there was a total of only three items on which Hispanic children scored higher than Anglo subjects, and only one item which reflected a better performance by black children than Anglo students. Higher performance levels by Anglo subjects were also noted on mathematic subtests, wherein Hispanic children scored higher on six items than their Anglo counterparts, and black subjects outperformed Anglo children on only one item. These data reflected a tendency of higher performance by Anglo students across all subtests when by an examination of the number of items passed or failed by members of each ethnic group was made. The examination of the verbal subtests additionally showed that Anglos passed sixty-five items, Hispanic children passed twenty-four items and thirty-two items were passed by black subjects. This trend continued on the mathematics subtests, where thirty-one items were passed by Anglo students and seventeen and fifteen items were passed by Hispanic and black children respectively. The findings of this study led to the conclusion that the majority of items on the CAT does not reflect evidence of cultural bias. There were, however, a limited number of items on which either Hispanic or black children out-performed their Anglo counterparts. Implications of these findings were discussed and recommendations were made for future studies to examine bias at the item level.

In this thesis I explore the extent to which women and girls are disadvantaged within the Nepalese education system. I attempt to investigate the barriers to, and opportunities for, participation by women and girls in the formal education system, including those who are doubly discriminated against because of gender and caste. I attempt to explore the issues in three ways: through an examination of my own experience growing up in Nepal as a member of a Brahmin family, and employed within the Ministry of Education in Nepal; through an exploration of the relevant literature within and outside Nepal; and through an ethnographic case-study of a village community. I spent about four months as a participant observer in the village engaging in unstructured in-depth interviews, as well as recording conversations and reflections in a research diary. Although the village is situated only 15 kilometers from Kathmandu, it exhibited a pattern of life that has changed very slowly in the fifty-two years since the end of the 50s. I report the extent of changes in the experiences of women and girls in the village, through their own reflections on their social position and the value of education to them, and their involvement and attendance at public, including religious, occasions. I report, too, on both the changing attitudes of men and their resistance to them. I pay particular attention to the present position of girls, through a detailed account of a public secondary school, situated at the centre of the village. I report on my observations in the classroom, conducted interviews with the girls, inside and outside school, and read their diaries in which they wrote down reflections about their experiences in school and at home. I selected, as key informants, a group of Dalit and Non-Dalit girls and boys, who were studying in Bhagawati School, as well as a group of girls who had stopped attending school. The activities of these key informants were observed in their schools, and outside as well. Interviews were also conducted with their parents, teachers and members of the different communities in the village. These opinions were supplemented with views about the education of girls, in general, and Dalit girls, in particular, and from discussions with Dalit activists and NGO workers. I consider how the value of education for girls is revealed, and affected, by competition from private schools, where boys predominate. I build a picture of the differences in educational participation of Dalits and non-Dalits, males and females and Dalit and non-Dalit girls. I also examine the role of NGOs in the village, and the extent to which they influence participation of women in education. I incorporate concepts of inclusion and exclusion into Bourdieu’s theory of cultural reproduction, as grounds for understanding how discrimination towards girls and Dalits is perpetuated in education. I also borrow the concept of cultural production theory, in order to examine how the schooled children resist traditional beliefs and prejudiced attitudes, about gender and caste, where the school offers a forum for the creation of a new counter-culture. I also draw on a Freirean approach to analyse how to increase the self-awareness of the excluded about their own exclusion. I provide an analysis of the case-study material, and a consideration of what these add to the literature and my own autobiographical reflections. I follow this with a critical analysis of how girls, and disadvantaged children, have experienced change in their educational participation, as a result of the efforts made by the government to implement its educational policies. I conclude that discrimination against girls in education persists, despite some changes, and is exacerbated by the interaction between gender, caste and poverty. The patriarchal value system and prejudices towards girls’ education, are still creating major barriers to girls’ opportunities for education, with low caste disproportionately increasing discrimination towards girls, compared to boys. The growth of private education is an added force for discrimination, with boys far more likely than girls to be supported by their families at private schools. I suggest that ways of combating discrimination need to be reviewed, within the relatively new context of a Nepalese democratic republic. This will require a redirection of policy-making and administration, from personal careers and patronage, towards a determined effort to put into practice the ideals of the Education for All programme in Nepal, without regard to gender, caste or ethnic background.

A research project submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters by Coursework and Research Report in the field of Industrial/Organisational Psychology. Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 6 June 2016 / This research traced the career trajectories from a cohort of female academics that were recipients of the Carnegie grant. These female academics were from two primary universities; the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and the University of Cape Town (UCT). The primary aim of the research was to explore the career trajectories of this cohort of female academics and gain further insight into the enablers and barriers to productivity and at their university. The impact of these enablers and challenges on the retention and attrition patterns was then analysed. The critical factors that were explored when interpreting retention and attrition were gender, race, intersectionality, belonging and culture. This analysis was enabled by applying critical race theory, intersectionality, and theories of belonging and non-belonging to the data. Due to the nature of this research, a qualitative approach was taken with the use of semi-structured interviews. The sample consisted of twenty-two female academics. In depth interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed and analysed using critical discourse analysis as well as thematic analysis proposed by Braun and Clarke (2006). The results indicated that female academics face a great deal of challenges within the higher education sector. These challenges often present as obstacles in their career progression. More importantly, black female academics face greater barriers because of the intersectional nature of their identity as being both black and female, amongst other identity categories. One of the leading causes to these barriers is based on the underlining institutional culture that exists at each university that is instilled through various systems and structures. One of the key enablers for this cohort of women academics was the Carnegie grant that they had received. For many, it provided scarce financial resources to focus on conducting quality research and dislodged the systems of patriarchal patronage which sometimes leaves women’s development at the mercy of male colleagues. The research suggests that notions of belonging are tied to epistemic access and the recognition and affirmation of the multiple identities that constitute women.

The goal of this study was to investigate whether mathematics teachers in Brazil had implicit gender biases, and if that potential bias was related to students' confidence and interest. The literature shows that there is a significant gender gap in mathematics achievement favoring boys, and Brazil is a special case in that it has one of the largest divergences in the world. This study investigated whether mathematics teachers in Brazil had implicit gender biases, if that bias was related to their students' confidence and interest in mathematics, and in what ways teachers' bias could be observed in conversations about teaching. For this study I surveyed 40 teachers, along with the students in one of each instructor’s mathematics classes. Teachers were asked to respond to a demographic questionnaire and implicit association test (IAT), while students were asked to respond to a questionnaire measuring their self-assessed confidence and interest in mathematics. At a later date, 10 teachers were selected to be interviewed, based on their IAT scores. The results show that mathematics teachers in Brazil had implicit gender biases regarding mathematics, but that their respective biases varied significantly. Male teachers were significantly biased in favor of boys, while female teachers were not. Teachers' implicit biases also varied depending on their educational levels. Students' confidence and interest in mathematics were shown not to be related to their teacher's measure of bias. However, confidence and interest did vary based on whether students attended public or private schools – with private schools having a significantly larger gender gap in both of these factors, and students' grade -- with the gap being wider among older students. Students' interest in mathematics also proved to be related to teachers' educational level, but their confidence in mathematics was not. Teachers in Brazil believe overall that girls and boys behave differently from each other in school; furthermore, they believe that these differences are due to societal and parental pressures and expectations regarding gender. Teachers who associated mathematics with boys did not appear to be aware of that implicit bias, and in conversation often referred to gender differences in a way that indicated they thought girls had advantages in school that boys did not.

The field of gender bias indicates that teachers are a significant source of gender-role socialization for students. This study focuses on post hoc recollections of college students' perceptions of gender bias exhibited by their high school teachers. Specifically, this study asks students to define sex discrimination, as well as describe instances of sex discrimination they experienced or observed exhibited by their high school teachers. Several unanswered questions emerged from a review of the literature: (1) students' reports of the extent to which they experience sex discrimination exhibited by their teachers; (2) students' observations of sex discrimination exhibited toward students of the same sex, as well as toward students of the opposite sex; (3) students' reports of the sex of teacher involved in the sexually discriminative instances they describe; (4) students' definitions of sex discrimination; and (5) students' descriptions of their own experiences of sex discrimination. Consequently, one hypothesis and five research questions are posed to investigate these unanswered questions in the literature. A survey instrument incorporating both closed and open-ended questions explores the hypothesis and research questions. Participants for this study include 149 undergraduate students (63 females, 86 males) in introductory communication and psychology courses at a western university. Results of the survey are analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The closed-ended questions reveal that male and female students experienced and observed sex discrimination exhibited by their teachers with similar frequency (in this case 'Very Rarely'). The open-ended questions indicate that males and females experienced and observed their teachers exhibiting different types of sexually discriminative behaviors toward male and female students (e.g., females described being treated as if they were unintelligent; males described being disciplined more strictly than females). Both male and female students' definitions of sex discrimination are very similar. In addition, the sex of the teacher described exhibiting sex discrimination appears to make a difference. Although previous research seems to suggest that male and female teachers are equally biased in their display of sexually discriminative behavior toward male and female students, this study's results show that both male and female students perceived male teachers to be more biased toward female students than female teachers. / Graduation date: 1995

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1983. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 265-269). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Texas State University-San Marcos, 2006. / Vita. Appendix: leaves 132-141. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-148).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Education, Jun. 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 226-238). Also available on the Internet.

This thesis is based on an ethnographic study conducted in a split grade five and six classroom in Toronto during the 1985/86 academic year. Data were collected through participatory observation, as well as through individual and focus group interviews. A group of eight activist African-Canadian high school students, as well as 26 Euro- Canadian “drop-backs” were also interviewed. The time during which I conducted the study was a period of intensive education activism of parents and the community in Toronto. I was interested in determining whether or not, and this activism was reflected at the school level, and if it was reflected, how. I also wanted to examine whether or not the historically supportive auxiliary role that parents played during this period was elevated to more substantive and meaningful active involvement in the education of their children during the last half of the 1980s. This study shows that activities in the classroom were driven by pre-packaged curriculum materials and were implemented with very few modifications. Coupled with teacher-centred practice, this closed the door for any diversifying opportunities that could have found their way into the classroom, not only from the homes of the children and the school community, but also from critics of the use of prepackaged material and, most importantly, from the students themselves. Furthermore, teacher-centred classroom discourse pushed students to develop a cynical attitude towards schooling. Having no say in what or how they were taught provided the children with few choices but to develop a coping mechanism of passive resistance. Their short-term survival strategies included appearing as though they were striding along, but not embracing their school experiences fully. By the same token, they were not challenged to think critically, to evaluate or to problem-solve. A link was also established between the students’ passive resistance at the elementary level with ‘fading out’ or ‘dropping out’ and successful resistance at the high school level.

The purpose of this study was to determine if socioeconomic differences among a population of mildly mentally handicapped school children exist on the Coloured Progressive Matrices. This information was sought in order to assist school psychologists in achieving the nondiscriminatory evaluations of handicapped children required by federal law.The theoretical base upon which this study rests is Catell's concept of intelligence. It was Catell's contention that the general ability factor measured by intelligence tests actually consisted of two factors, crystallized and fluid intelligence. Crystallized ability reflects previous education and experience while fluid ability is exhibited in adaptation to new situations where crystallized skills are of no particular advantage. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for ChildrenRevised was assumed to measure crystallized ability and the Coloured Progressive Matrices was assumed to measure fluid ability. Given that the Wechsler scales are among the primary instruments used to assess children for placement into programs for the mildly mentally handicapped, it was conjectured that assignment to this group has been based on crystallized, and hence culturally biased, abilities. It was hypothesized that among an identified population of mildly mentally handicapped school children, those children from low socioeconomic backgrounds would demonstrate significantly greater fluid intelligence as measured by the Coloured Progressive Matrices than children from high socioeconomic backgrounds.There were a total of 25 subjects in the study. These students had been previously identified as mildly mentally handicapped and placed in programs for students so diagnosed. The subjects were Caucasian male and female students who ranged in age from 8 years, 0 months to 12 years, 11 months of age. Each subject was designated as belonging to either high or low socioeconomic groups depending upon the occupation of the head of the household in which they lived. The data for this study was gathered by school psychometrists during the administration of the triennial retest cycle.To determine whether differences in mean scores between socioeconomic groups were significant, statistical analysis was applied. Statistically, the hypotheses were treated as null hypotheses with the .05 level of significance necessary for rejection. The hypotheses were tested through a t-test to determine statistical significance.The low socioeconimic group obtained a mean raw score of 19.85 on the Coloured Progressive Matrices while the high socioeconomic group's mean raw score on this measure was 18.17, The difference in mean raw scores between high and low socioeconomic groups on the Coloured Progressive Matrices was not significant at the .05 level of confidence.