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DEVELOPING

10 CEA ADVISOR SUMMER 2018

RACIAL BIAS—WHAT EDUCATORS NEED TO KNOW “We all harbor implicit biases,”

represent almost half (48 percent) of the preschoolers who are suspended more than once—a pattern that Gilliam attributes in part to our tendency to watch for negative behaviors among certain demographics. “If you look for something in only one place, that’s the only place you can find it,” he says. In fact, African American children are 3.6 times more likely to be expelled from preschool than white children—a trend that affects their school readiness by disproportionately denying access to early learning. Gilliam presented these and other eye-opening findings at Community Conversations: Early Learning Success Through Collaboration, a conference of the Teachers Policy Institute (TPI). TPI is a research and innovation forum created by CEA members to advance equity and opportunity for all students in Connecticut’s public schools. The irony Three main studies consistently cited to make the case for early childhood education—“the ones that show a great return on investment for every dollar spent on early childhood education,” Gilliam notes—are the Perry, Chicago, and Abecedarian studies. “What most people don’t know about those studies is that 93 to 100 percent of the children studied were black. So, there was this great push, because of these three studies, to expand early childhood education for all children, but the first ones to get pushed out, ironically, are the black children.” Gilliam adds that most of what we know about implicit bias is relatively new, with a majority of the research coming out in the last five years. Much of the emerging research, he observes, is directed at understanding how subtle bias impacts the behaviors of professionals who provide care (police, teachers, physicians) and developing better interventions. “My team has been focusing on these areas and working toward the development of smarter professional development for early educators, based on how biases are formed and

says Dr. Walter Gilliam, director of the Edward Zigler Center in Child Development and Social Policy at Yale University and a lead researcher in studies that examine the ways that subtle stereotypes influence our expectations and interactions with others. “Even caring, well-meaning teachers,” he says, “can be guided by subconscious notions about how certain children might think, feel, and behave, and that has an impact on the major and micro-level decisions we make in our classrooms.” One of Gilliam’s studies demonstrated exactly how implicit bias can reveal itself in a preschool setting: 135 early childhood educators were asked to help researchers learn how they spot difficult behaviors. (They did not know they were part of a study examining implicit bias.) The teachers were shown short videos of four children in a preschool classroom and were instructed to press a key if they detected behaviors that could become a challenge. “Sometimes this involves seeing behavior before it becomes problematic,” the teachers were told. What they weren’t told was that there were actually no problematic behaviors in any of the clips—and that eye-tracking technology was recording where they looked and how often. The videos, shot from different angles in the room, showed an African American boy and girl and a white boy and girl. Gilliam and his team wanted to know: When teachers are looking out for bad behavior, which kids are they looking at? Implicit bias What Gilliam’s team found was that regardless of their own race, teachers focused most of their attention on the African American boy, followed by the African American girl. Although none of the four children exhibited signs of disruptive behaviors, this is where educators tended to look— and keep looking. African American children, who account for fewer than one in every five preschoolers (18 percent),

Expulsions per 1,000 students

K-12: 2.1 children

Pre-K: 6.7 children

how they impact teacher decision- making. Teacher supports, such as mental health consultants who can provide a fresh, objective set of eyes and a supporting relationship with the teacher, can prove useful. What

we really need is far smarter and far more effective professional development regarding teacher biases, and that’s exactly where we have been turning our attention.”

IMPLICIT BIAS TRAINING COMES TO YOU In June, CEA organizers Herman Whitter and Mike Breen presented a workshop for Marlborough teachers— Understanding Implicit Bias, Microagressions & Stereotypes —as part of CEA’s Professional Learning Academy. Originally developed by the California Teachers Association in collaboration with the NEA Center for Human Rights, the training explains various types of

microaggressions, with examples; how to confront and respond to implicit bias on a personal and professional level; and how to advocate for local, state, and national policies that address the problem. David Wasserman, a fourth-grade teacher at Elmer Thienes–Mary Hall Elementary School who attended the workshop, said, “The current culture in

our country has elevated the importance of this subject, and I’m here to see how implicit bias relates to my work in the classroom.” Colleague Jen Wall, who teaches second grade, agreed. “It’s important to understand how implicit bias affects our students. This topic is relevant, always.”

CEA offers a three-hour workshop, Unconscious Bias: Its Powerful Effect on Instruction and Learning . Contact CEA’s Professional Learning Academy at 860- 525-5641 or myprofession@ cea.org. CEA is a Connecticut State Department of Education designated PD provider.

CEA organizers Herman Whitter and Mike Breen presented a workshop on implicit bias for Marlborough teachers.