A Meta-Analysis of Experimental Examinations of Racism in U.S. Pre-K-12th Grade Educational Contexts

Racism primarily has been examined in United States (U.S.) educational contexts via survey and qualitative investigations, which reveal Black, Indigenous, and People of Colors’ (BIPOCs’) self-reported experiences of individual racism. Missing from this research is a focus on the perpetrators of racism and the institutional nature of racism in U.S. education. Experimental examinations of racism in U.S. education are efficacious in identifying perpetrators of racism and offer objective evidence of racism, which can underscore the importance of qualitative and survey findings. However, experimental examinations of racism in educational contexts are infrequent, examine a wide array of perpetrators (e.g., peers, teachers, principals) and educational domains (grading, diagnoses, liking), and reveal mixed findings. Thus, I utilized meta-analytic techniques to explore the magnitude of the effect of racism in pre-K-12th grade contexts as demonstrated by experimental examinations. In addition, I explore moderation of the effect of racism by 1) the type of experimental technique, 2) the specific perpetrator, 3) the BIPOC target, 4) the region of the US, and 5) the design of treatment assignment. Using 71 effect sizes from 57 studies, I found evidence that racism is present in U.S. pre-K-12th grade education for BIPOC [Cohen’s d=0.15, 95% CI(0.05, 0.25)]. Heterogeneity existed in the overall effect, and moderators included the U.S. region, and the level of racism (e.g., individual versus institutional) explained the heterogeneity of the effects. The findings are discussed in terms of theoretical and methodological implications and future directions for research.