Audio: Want to address teachers' biases? First, talk about race | 89.3 KPCC:
Want to address teachers' biases? First, talk about race
As Ayana Coles gazes at the 20 teachers gathered in her classroom, she knows the conversation could get uncomfortable. And she's prepared.
"We are going to experience discomfort — well, we may or may not experience it — but if we have it that's OK," says Coles, a third-grade teacher at Eagle Creek Elementary School in Indianapolis.
Coles is black, one of just four teachers of color among Eagle Creek Elementary's 37 staff. Throughout last year she gathered co-workers in her classroom for after-school discussions about race.
Her goal? Create a common understanding of race and power, with hopes that teachers acknowledge, then address, how that plays out in the school.
Coles says her son's schools have left him behind. That he's been suspended for minor reasons. That his teachers have never really connected with him. She wants teachers here to do better.
First, that means exploring often-taboo topics: race, power and teachers' biases.
UNCONSCIOUS BIASES
According to study after study after study, teachers' behaviors — often directed by conscious or unconscious biases — affect students' lives, from passing students to the next grade, to discipline. Different biases affect us in different ways:
- We may pay attention to things that justify preexisting beliefs — confirmation bias.
- We may favor people like us — ingroup bias.
- We may expect members of a group to act a certain way — stereotyping.
But what happens when these, or other biases, are implicit? In other words, they're unconscious but still affect our outlook and behaviors?
Nationally, black students are suspended at almost four times the rate of their white peers. Often for non-violent reasons like "non-compliance" or "disrespect." Situations that require a judgment call. Because what happens if a teacher's attitude towards race unconsciously clouds that judgment?
TALKING ABOUT IT
Ayana Cole's meetings aren't part of any formal program. The 20 teachers gathered, including speech pathologist Dorothy Gerve, came on their own time.
"I actually had someone ask me, 'Why don't black people speak right?'" says Gerve, the only other black teacher in the room. "And it threw me."
So, Coles steers the group toward a discussion about ebonics. Language alone, she says, can trigger biases: Who's smart? Who's not?
"I can remember being younger and if I used standard English I'd feel like I was acting white," she explains. "And so I was opposed to it because I wanted to embrace my culture and heritage."
Coles hopes understanding cultural differences and privilege might get teachers to think about how that affects students' educations.
