Social Class and Race as Concomitants of Composite Halo in Teachers’ Evaluative Rating of Pupils

Abstract

Two hypotheses were tested: (1) Teachers’ ratings of high-SES pupils will exhibit less composite halo than will teachers’ ratings of low-SES pupils, and (2) The SES of pupils will have a greater effect on composite halo in ratings than will the race of the pupil or teacher. Principal components analysis was used to investigate the hypotheses, using teachers’ ratings of more than 8,000 fourth-grade pupils on 21 related behavior changes. The hypotheses were confirmed. The results are at variance with one set of literature while in support of another set of literature. It was suggested that the relationships between social distance, race, SES, and evaluator accuracy (one example of which is absence of composite halo) be resurrected for closer scrutiny in the face of conflicting evidence.