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Implicit Teacher Stereotypes Toward Left-Behind Children: A Bias-Awareness Experiment

Last registered on February 10, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Implicit Teacher Stereotypes Toward Left-Behind Children: A Bias-Awareness Experiment
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0017853
Initial registration date
February 07, 2026

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
February 10, 2026, 6:39 AM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
YING LIU
Affiliation
Singapore management university
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Christine Ho
PI Affiliation
London School of Economics and School of Economics
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PI Name
Junjian Yi
PI Affiliation
Peking University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2026-01-05
End date
2026-07-31
Keywords
Behavior, Education
Additional Keywords
left-behind children, teacher bias, implicit association test, awareness intervention
JEL code(s)
D91, I21, I24, J15, J24, O15
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Can revealing implicit bias to teachers reduce educational inequality? We randomize 100 elementary school homeroom teachers in rural China to receive feedback on Implicit Association Test (IAT) scores measuring bias toward left-behind children (LBC)---students separated from migrating parents. We test whether IAT feedback affects both direct teacher behaviors---discriminatory grading and classroom interactions---and downstream student outcomes including well-being, peer relationships, and blindly graded test scores. This study provides experimental evidence on whether awareness interventions can reduce educational inequality by improving both teacher behavior and students' social outcomes.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Ho, Christine, YING LIU and Junjian Yi. 2026. "Implicit Teacher Stereotypes Toward Left-Behind Children: A Bias-Awareness Experiment." AEA RCT Registry. February 10. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.17853-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2026-05-01
Intervention End Date
2026-07-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
- Grading
- Classroom interactions
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
- Well-being
- Peer relationships
- Test scores
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The study adopts a school-level randomized controlled design. After completion of baseline surveys and administration of the IAT to teachers, participating schools are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups in a 1:1 ratio (approximately 50 schools per group), stratified by whether the participating teacher's baseline IAT score is above or below the median.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer,
Randomization Unit
School
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
100 schools
Sample size: planned number of observations
- 100 teachers - 2000 students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
50 schools per treated arms
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Peking University
IRB Approval Date
2025-12-18
IRB Approval Number
2025221
IRB Name
Singapore Management University
IRB Approval Date
2025-12-16
IRB Approval Number
IRB-25-231-A186(1125)
Analysis Plan