Student-centered instructional policies are associated with more positive student perceptions of their instructor's universality beliefs, but these perceptions favor White instructors in STEM

Background The way students perceive their instructor's mindset has been linked to student outcomes, such as engagement and performance, in STEM courses. However, the factors that influence such perceptions are not yet understood, particularly in relation to the instructor’s teaching policies and demographic characteristics. To address this gap, we investigate how student perceptions of their instructors’ universality beliefs (the belief that all students or only some students can reach their full potential in STEM) about student abilities vary based on instructional policies while considering student and instructor demographic factors. Results Student perceptions of the instructor's universal and non-universal beliefs about student abilities were collected using a portion of the Undergraduate Lay Theories of Abilities (ULTrA) survey (n = 625). Teaching policies were characterized by adapting a rubric to assess the student-centeredness of instructors’ syllabi of 24 STEM instructors (34 courses) in a demographically diverse research institution in the Southern United States. Our findings indicate that using more student-centered instructional policies in evaluating and assessing students is associated with a more positive perception of the instructor’s universality beliefs. However, when instructor demographics are introduced in the model, that association between instructors’ policies and student perceptions is lost, with White instructors being perceived more positively. Conclusions Our findings indicate that student-centered instructional policies are associated with more positive perceptions of instructors' universal beliefs. Thus, adopting student-centered policies, particularly in evaluation and assessment, is a potential mechanism to enhance student perceptions of the learning environment, thereby increasing retention in STEM courses. In addition, our work identifies possible biases in student perceptions of the learning environment that extend beyond the instructors’ adoption of student-centered policies, specifically in relation to instructor demographic identity. Instructional policies are no longer significant when the instructor's race is introduced in our model. White instructors are perceived more positively than their Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) peers. Thus, other contextual factors, such as verbal and non-verbal cues, cultural differences among faculty, or built-in systemic inequities, may contribute to shaping student perceptions and should be explored further.