Systematic Differences in How Mothers Assess Children and Implications for Developmental Research Cory Koedel University of Missouri Teerachat Techapaisarnjaroenkit* University of Missouri October 2012 We examine the agreeability between mothers and caregivers in assessing the non- cognitive development of young children. Our analysis extends the standard agreeability framework to consider systematic directional differences between mothers and caregivers across maternal subgroups. Using caregiver assessments as a benchmark, we find that minority mothers provide consistently more-favorable evaluations of their children relative to white mothers. Holding race constant, mothers who raise their children in less-favorable family structures also provide more-favorable evaluations. These patterns in the data cannot be explained by any obvious source. We consider several possible explanations, and discuss implications. * We thank Irma Arteaga, Xiaoyan (Laura) Chen, Colleen Heflin and Peter Mueser for useful comments and suggestions. The usual disclaimers apply.