Not All Discipline Disparities May Be The Result Of Implicit Bias
Over the past few months, we have heard a lot about discipline disparities by race/ethnicity and gender — disparities that begin in the earliest years of schooling. According to the Civil Rights Data Collection Project by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, “black students represent 18% of preschool enrollment, but 42% of preschool students suspended once and 48% of students suspended more than once.” It also found that “boys receive more than three out of four out-of-school preschool suspensions.”
This focus on student discipline disparities has also drawn attention to the research on implicit bias — the idea that we all harbor unconscious attitudes that tend to favor individuals from some groups (whites, males, those judged to be good looking, etc.), and that disadvantage people from other groups (people of color, women, ethnic minorities, etc.). The concept of implicit bias suggests that good or bad behavior is often in the eye of the beholder, and disparities in disciplinary outcomes (e.g., suspensions and expulsions) may be influenced by unconscious stereotypes.
Part of me is very glad that we are finally having this conversation. Acknowledging the existence and consequences of subtle, implicit forms of prejudice is an important and necessary first step toward mitigating their effects and advancing toward fairness — see my implicit bias series here. But it sometimes seems that the discipline and the implicit bias conversations are one and the same, and this concerns me for two reasons.
First, implicit attitudes of teachers and administrators are likely to affect school-related areas other than discipline. A case can be made for the contribution of implicit bias to many types of decisions about students, aside from the obvious, such as decisions about grading, tracking, evaluations and disciplinary actions. Indeed, all kinds of student behaviors have the potential of being misinterpreted due to biases and stereotypes. For example, a student who keeps to herself in the classroom could be perceived as shy or reserved, but also as sullen, uninterested or disengaged. This is often a subjective call and most likely mediated by the student’s race, ethnicity and gender (among other factors, including context).
Limiting our understanding and application of implicit bias to discipline-related actions and outcomes won’t be Shanker Blog » Not All Discipline Disparities May Be The Result Of Implicit Bias: