HelpingEarlyEducatorsUn-LearnImplicitBiasesthroughProfessionalDevelopmentActivities
JenNeitzelandMeganVinh
Agenda• Introductions• Activity• Whyisthisanissue?• Overviewofimplicitbias• Impactofimplicitbiasoneducationalpractices• Generalstrategiestoreducebiasin• SmallGroupActivity
Activity
• Completetheimplicitbiastest:https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html• Discussion:• Howdidyoufeelwhenyouweretakingthetest?• Didtheresultssurpriseyou?Howso?• Howmanyofyouthinkyouhaveimplicitbiasnow?
Studiesspanning40yearsshowthatAfricanAmericanchildrenareuptofourtimesmorelikelytobesuspendedthanWhitestudents
(Bradshawetal.,2010;Children’sDefenseFund,1975;Milner,2013;Skibaetal.,2011).
• 5,000preschoolersweresuspendedatleastonceandnearly2,500weresuspendedasecondtime.
• AfricanAmericans:18percentofthepreschoolpopulation,but48%ofsuspensions
• Boys: 49%ofthepreschoolpopulation,but82%ofallsuspensions
• Childrenwithdisabilities:disproportionatelysuspended
(UnitedStatesDepartmentofEducation,2014).
TheNewOCR(2016)Patternsofracialandgender
disproportionality:
• AfricanAmericanboys:54%ofthepreschoolpopulation,but78%ofthosesuspended
• AfricanAmericangirls:20%ofpreschoolfemalepopulation,but54%ofgirlssuspendedfrompreschool
• AfricanAmericanpreschoolers:3.6timesmorelikelytobesuspendedthantheirWhitepeers
WhatisImplicitBias?• Activatedinvoluntarily(i.e., individualnotawareofbiases)• Pervasiveandrobust• Doesnotnecessarilyalignwithourdeclaredbeliefs• Malleable,butcanbeunlearnedandreplacedwithnewmentalassociations
(Beattie,etal.,2013;Blair,2002;Blair,Ma,&Lenton,2001;Clark&Zygmunt,2014;Dasgupta,2013;Dasgupta &Grennwald,2001;Devine,989;Graham&Lowery,2004;Greenwald&Krieger,2006;Greenwald,McGhee,&Schwartz,1998;Kang,2009;Kang&Lane,2010;Kang,etal.,2012;Kang&Lane,2010;Nosek,Smyth,etal.,2007;Rachlinkski,Johnson,Wistrich,&Guthrie,2009;Ross,Lebrecht,Tanaka,&Tarr,2013;Rudman,2004)
ImplicitBiasinEducation• Implicitbiasexacerbatesinequalitiesandcreatesa“viciouscycle”ofraciallydisproportionatepractices
• Researchonschool-agechildrenhasidentifiedconcerningtrendsthatshowhowimplicitbiaseffectsteachers’instructionalpractices,interactionswithstudents,schooldiscipline,andspecialeducationeligibilityandplacementdecisions.
ImplicitBiasinEarlyChildhood• EarlyeducationstafftendtoobserveBlackchildrenmoreclosely,especiallywhentheyexpectchallengingbehaviors.• Thenatureoftheimplicitbiasseemstodifferbasedontheraceoftheearlyeducator.• Same-raceempatheticresponse
Gilliam,Maupin,Reyes,Accavitti,&Shic,2016
NeedforProfessionalDevelopment
• Theseattitudesandimplicitbiasesaremalleable(Kang&Banaji,2016)andunderthecontrolofindividuals,whichsuggeststhatsupportsareneededtochangetheimpactofimplicitbiasontheeducationalexperiencesofBlackchildren.
ProfessionalDevelopmentStrategies
Examiningdatatoidentifydisparities
01Havingconversationsaboutrace
02Designinginterventionstoaddressimplicitbias
03Multi-componentimplicitbias-reducingintervention
04Improvingteacherpreparationandeducation
05
ExaminingdatatoidentifydisparitiesPreparation– PlantoSucceed• Definepurposeandtheissue• Identifywhoneedstobeinvolved• Timelines• Identifyrelevantquestions• Identifyrelevantdata• Generatehypotheses
Inference– Interpret&ShareWithOthers• Sharedatamaterials• Checksupportforhypotheses
• Connectinferenceswithrootcauses
HavingConversationsaboutRace• Facilitatesdiscussionsaboutracewithineducationalsettings• Useofde-biasingstrategies(e.g.,takingperspectiveofanother,stereotypereplacement)• Issueswithacolorblindperspective• Conditionsthatneedtobeinplaceforself-reflectionandunlearningofbiasestobesuccessfulincludeintention,attention,andtime.
HavingConversationsaboutRace• Promotereflectionaboutwaystolessenracialinequalityandunequaltreatmentineverydaypracticesandinteractions• Providereadingsanddialoguerelatedtothehistoryofracialinequityinschools,andthefactorsthatleadtolackofeducationalopportunitiesforminoritygroups• Askeducatorshardquestions
Carteretal.,2017
DesigningInterventionstoAddressImplicitBias• High-qualityprofessionaldevelopmentactivitieshelpteachers:• developmoresupportiverelationshipswithstudents;• createbias-freeclassroomsandschools;• implementproblem-solvingapproachestodiscipline;• encouragestudents’participationinschoolactivities;• recognizetheimportanceoffamilies;and• facilitatecommunityengagement.
Carter,etal.,2017;Townsend,2000
Multi-ComponentImplicitBiasReducingIntervention• Multi-facetedprejudicehabit-breakingintervention• Providesteachersandadministratorswithatoolkitofstrategiesthatarepracticedonaweeklybasistoreducebiases• Beforetheintervention,allteachersandschoolpersonneltaketheBlack-WhiteImplicitAssociationTest(IAT)topromptself-reflectionaboutbiases.• Fivestrategiesthenareprovided.• Examplesaregivenabouthowtheymightbeusedineverydaysituations.
Devine,etal.2012;Greenwald,McGhee,&Schwartz,1998
Strategy DescriptionStereotypereplacement Teachersrecognizethattheirresponseisbasedonstereotypes.Theylabelthe
response,reflectonwhyitoccurred,anddeterminehowtoavoidtheresponseinthefuture.
Counter-stereotypicimaging Individualskeeppositiveexemplarsaccessibletochallengeastereotype.
Individuation Individualsworktopreventstereotypicinferencesbygaininginformationaboutindividuals.
Perspective-taking Individualstaketheperspectiveofanotherpersonwithinthestereotypedgrouptoreducetheoccurrenceofgroup-basedevaluations.
Increasingopportunitiesforcontact
Individualsseekoutopportunitiestointeractpositivelywithout groupmembers.
Figure 1. Implicit Bias Habit-Reducing Strategies (Devine et al., 2012)
Multi-ComponentImplicitBiasReducingIntervention
SmallGroupActivity
• GeneralStrategies:• Chooseatleastthreestrategiesandcreatestepsforimplementingthem• Createanactionplanforchangingattitudeswithinyourclassroom,program,school,district,orstate
• Multi-componentImplicitBiasReducingInterventions• Thinkabouteachofthesestrategiesandhowyoucanusethemtoreduceimplicitbiaswithinyourclassrooms,program,school,district,orstate• Createstepsforimplementingeachstrategyandcreateanactionplan.
LargeGroupDiscussion
• Shareideas/thoughts/actionplanwiththelargergroup
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