diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/instructor_analytics/csvs.py b/lms/djangoapps/instructor_analytics/csvs.py
index a5ca1c5f6e..67700a8ddb 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/instructor_analytics/csvs.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/instructor_analytics/csvs.py
@@ -32,11 +32,11 @@ def create_csv_response(filename, header, datarows):
         quotechar='"',
         quoting=csv.QUOTE_ALL)
 
-    encoded_header = [six.text_type(s).encode('utf-8') for s in header]
+    encoded_header = [six.text_type(s) for s in header]
     csvwriter.writerow(encoded_header)
 
     for datarow in datarows:
-        encoded_row = [six.text_type(s).encode('utf-8') for s in datarow]
+        encoded_row = [six.text_type(s) for s in datarow]
         csvwriter.writerow(encoded_row)
 
     return response
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/instructor_analytics/tests/test_csvs.py b/lms/djangoapps/instructor_analytics/tests/test_csvs.py
index 23c589c6ae..fe636626fd 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/instructor_analytics/tests/test_csvs.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/instructor_analytics/tests/test_csvs.py
@@ -81,7 +81,10 @@ class TestAnalyticsFormatDictlist(TestCase):
         res = create_csv_response('robot.csv', header, datarows)
         self.assertEqual(res['Content-Type'], 'text/csv')
         self.assertEqual(res['Content-Disposition'], u'attachment; filename={0}'.format('robot.csv'))
-        self.assertEqual(res.content.strip(), '"Name","Email"\r\n"Jim","jim@edy.org"\r\n"Jake","jake@edy.org"\r\n"Jeeves","jeeves@edy.org"')
+        self.assertEqual(
+            res.content.strip().decode('utf-8'),
+            '"Name","Email"\r\n"Jim","jim@edy.org"\r\n"Jake","jake@edy.org"\r\n"Jeeves","jeeves@edy.org"'
+        )
 
 
 class TestAnalyticsFormatInstances(TestCase):