Unconscious Bias in Education
NAPS Student Leaders 2019-2020
NAPS Student Leaders 2019-2020
Who We Are
This website was created by the North Adams Public School Student Leaders in collaboration with our advisor, Molly Polk. Together, we represent the North Adams branch of CLiA's Williams Elementary Outreach (WEO) Program at Williams College.
We are part of a team of students who work alongside classroom teachers in the North Adams Public Schools (NAPS) to teach and mentor elementary students in a variety of academic and social-emotional learning programs. We are incredibly grateful for the opportunities we have to learn about teaching and the field of education through these meaningful college-school partnerships.
Purpose
Like many districts across the country and in Berkshire County, the NAPS are currently engaged in exploring topics related to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.
During the Fall of 2019, we asked ourselves the following question: How can we become better attuned to - and advocates for - equitable educational environments? We hoped to deepen our understanding of how our views surrounding diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging influence our own work in local schools.
Building on a series of on-campus workshops hosted by NAPS Student Leaders during the 2019-2020 academic year, this website is designed to offer a more permanent collection of resources that have influenced the way we think about these topics.
Acknowledgements
This work would not be possible without the generous TIDE grant from the Williams College Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to fund our project, “Confronting Race, Class and Gender Bias in Education.”
We would like to thank the Davis Center Community Engagement Fellows for providing resources about social identity formation.
We would also like to thank Dr. Tracey Benson, author of the book “Unconscious Bias in Schools: A Developmental Approach to Exploring Race and Racism,” for his continued collaboration and support.
Finally, we want to acknowledge the teachers, administrators, and students in the North Adams Public Schools who have welcomed us into their classrooms and helped us learn to be more thoughtful, compassionate educators.