Combating Bias




Intention, Attention, & Time

Intention, Attention, & Time are all needed to overcome unconscious bias. Examine your views and make the time to educate yourself to become aware of and recognize the diverse perspectives that exist. Then incorporate into your being.

Where do implicit attitudes come from? Is it me or my culture?

Implicit preferences for majority groups (e.g., White people) are likely common because of strong negative associations with Black people in American society. There is a long history of racial discrimination in the United States, and Black people are often portrayed negatively in culture and mass media. However, even if our attitudes and beliefs come from our culture, they are still in our own minds. Subtle psychological biases of all stripes can influence our behavior if we are not vigilant to their influence.

What can I do about an implicit preference that I don’t want?

It is well-established that implicit preferences can predict behavior. But, there is not yet enough research to say for sure that implicit biases can be reduced, let alone eliminated, or whether implicit bias reduction will lead to behavior change. Therefore, we encourage people not to focus on strategies for reducing implicit preferences, but to focus instead on strategies that deny implicit biases the chance to operate. One such strategy is ensuring that implicit biases don’t leak out in the first place. To do that, you can “blind” yourself from learning a person’s gender, race, etc. when you’re making a decision about them (e.g., having their name removed from the top of a resume). If you only evaluate a person on the things that matter for a decision, then you can’t be swayed by demographic factors. Another strategy is to try to compensate for your implicit preferences. For example, if you have an implicit preference for young people you can try to be friendlier toward elderly people. Although it has not been well-studied, based on what we know about how biases form we also recommend that people consider what gets into their minds in the first place. This might mean, for example, going out of our way to watch television programs and movies that portray women and minority group members in positive or counter-stereotypical ways.

Source: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/faqs.html#faq13

Project Implicit, Harvard-based surveys to aid in detecting implicit and unconscious bias to facilitate learning & growth.

Stereotype Threat

interventionshandout.pdf

Want to learn more? Check these out...

On stereotype threat: ReducingStereotypeThreat.org

Geoff Cohen: http://ed.stanford.edu/faculty/glc Yeager, D.S., Purdie-Vaughns, V., Hooper, S. Y., & Cohen, G. L. (2017). Loss of Institutional Trust Among Racial and Minority Adolescents: A Consequence of Procedural Injustice and a Cause of Life-Span Outcomes. Child Development 88(2): 658-676.

Dweck, C.S., Walton, G.M., & Cohen, G.L. (2014). Academic Tenacity: Mindsets and Skills That Promote Long-Term Learning. Paper prepared for the Gates Foundation by Carol S. Dweck, Gregory M. Walton, & Geoffrey L. Cohen with the valuable assistance of David Paunesku and David Yeager.

Yeager, D. S., Purdie-Vaughns, V., Garcia, J., Apfel, N., Brzustoski, P., Master, A., Hessert, W. T., Williams, M. E., & Cohen, G. L. (2013, August 12). Breaking the Cycle of Mistrust: Wise Interventions to Provide Critical Feedback Across the Racial Divide.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/a0033906

Garcia, J., & Cohen, G. L. (in press). A social-psychological approach to educational intervention. In E. Shafir (Ed.), Behavioral foundations of policy.

Walton,G., & Cohen, G. L. (2011). A brief social-belonging intervention improves academic and health outcomes of minority students. Science,331, 1147-1151.

Cohen, G. L., & Steele, C. M. (2002). A barrier of mistrust: How negative stereotypes affect cross-race mentoring. In J. Aronson (Ed.), Improving academic achievement: Impact of psychological factors on education (pp. 303-328). San Diego: Academic Press.

Claude Steele: http://steele.socialpsychology.org/

Greg Walton: http://www.stanford.edu/~gwalton

ICCSD TLC: Stereotype Threat Presentation

Copy of March 8th TLC Presentation

Identity Safe Classrooms

This approach is using C.Steele's stereotype threat research and adapted by his wife, Dorothy, also a Stanford professor and researcher with an early-childhood emphasis. Her Identity Safe Classroom is very appropriate for elementary classrooms.

"Identity safe classrooms are those in which teachers strive to ensure students that their social identities are an asset rather than a barrier to success in the classroom. Acknowledging students' identities, rather than trying to be colorblind, can build the foundation for strong positive relationships. This, coupled with challenging opportunities to learn, can help all students begin to feel they are welcomed, supported, and valued as members of the learning community." —Dr. Dorothy Steele 8min 11sec

Create an identity safe classroom: These are environments in which every student’s identity is intentionally acknowledged and valued (Steele & Cohn-Vargas 2014). In these classrooms, students see themselves in the curriculum, feel affirmed by the images that adorn classroom walls, become acquainted with the cultural backgrounds of peers, and believe they matter as individuals in the classroom community. These are classrooms in which teachers know their students well enough to determine what messages they will need. For example, girls and boys may require different messages; and, students within the same racial group may need differentiated messages based on complexion, hair texture, or language. Finally, identity safe classrooms are also spaces where teachers immediately address put-downs, name-calling or internalized negative stereotype buy-in to foster prosocial behavior. Learn more from Dr. Dorothy Steele’s video(link is external) on identity safe classrooms and this presentation(link is external) by Jennifer Abrams.

Priming positive images: This intervention is based in the research which shows when one is primed to think about their race or gender prior to a performance task such as testing, stereotypical associations with the identified group--both positive and negative--surface and influence performance outcomes. Thus, researchers have found that if teachers prime students at risk of stereotype threat with positive images and thoughts such as “You are intelligent,” students often eliminate associations with negative stereotypes and perform at their potential (McGlone 2007). Also of benefit is repeatedly presenting students with exemplars (link is external) of successful people who share their group identity can validate students’ potential for success.

Forewarning students about stereotype threat: Studies have been conducted to demonstrate how awareness among stigmatized groups of the existence of stereotype helps reduce its influence on performance. When a student who is knowledgeable about stereotype threat experiences anxiety during testing, she can disassociate the anxiety from her ability, attribute it to stereotype threat and reduce its effects on her performance (Aronson & Williams 2004; Johns & Schmader 2004 ). Greater detail on forewarning can be found here (link is external).

Values affirmation: Having students draft reflections on topics of importance to them has been shown to be an effective way of reducing stereotype threat (Bowen 2013). Topics can range from writing about the importance of family and their career aspirations to an inspirational figure in their lives, and the writing time can vary from 15 minutes to an hour. Related to writing assignments is the practice of reading testimonials of others in stigmatized groups which feature positive messages about academic or other triumphs. Learn more about how you can use writing interventions(link is external) in your classroom to address stereotype threat.

Clearly not all members of racial or gender minority groups experience stereotype threat during performance tasks. Nonetheless, more than two decades of research on the issue validates the effects of this phenomenon on the academic performance of stigmatized groups. Stereotype threat not only disrupts daily focus among vulnerable groups, it can sabotage a student’s entire academic career. The interventions shared in this post, if incorporated into teachers’ practice, may help silence self-defeating inner dialogues that undermine the performance of at-risk subgroups and help more students demonstrate their potential.

This is the publisher's website if D.Steele's Identity Safe Classroom book and approach. The pdfs below are scaffolds for teachers to work through the principles of implementing in their classrooms.

Not In Our School is a program that creates safe, accepting and inclusive school communities. Not In Our School provides training, films, lesson plans and resources that inspire students to take the lead in standing up to bullying and intolerance in their schools.

WELCOME TO ICHANGE COLLABORATIVE

We offer inclusivity consulting and educational programs to schools and community organizations.

Transformational change begins with authentic personal interactions and ends with real world action. iChange Collaborative’s “Dynamic Dialogues” programs foster supportive relationships, appreciation for differences, group synergy and commitment to positive change.

Our programs integrate interpersonal activities and self-reflection to personalize experience and catalyze higher order thinking. Our process method strengthens identity and enhances relationships, which are then mirrored in dynamic classrooms and school cultures.

The dynamic potential of diversity lies in incorporating multiple perspectives and synthesizing solutions. When education fosters rich and diverse talent, the result is transformational leadership. Strong identities related to race, class, gender, religion, ethnicity, and ability (among others) result in increased engagement, academic achievement, and ethical commitment.

Identity: Who Am I?

Be You!

thecriticalmediaproject

media literacy and the politics of identity - resources for educators

Identity_Teaching Tolerance.pdf

Additional GLSEN Resources:

GSAs and educators can include Black LGBTQ identities in school using our icons resource. In addition you can follow GLSEN's Student Advocate of the Year Ose Arheghan on GLSEN's instagram (@glsenofficial) throughout the month as they share Black, queer women and femme icons that should be taught in an inclusive school curriculum!

ICONS RESOURCE

" Welcome to UnderstandingPrejudice.org, a web site for students, teachers, and others interested in the causes and consequences of prejudice.

In these pages you will find more than 2,000 links to prejudice-related resources, as well as searchable databases with hundreds of prejudice researchers and social justice organizations. "


Teaching Restorative Practices in the Classroom 7 lesson Curriculum.pdf