In this article, Ford brings forward a frequently identified root cause of inequity in society and in school discipline, implicit bias. He acknowledges that all people, including educators, are raised in context of social situations and conditioning. Ford refers to methods for raising the issue of implicit bias with teachers, guiding them to introspection and leading them toward individual and systematic change.
Ford, James E. 2016. “The Root of Discipline Disparities.” Educational Leadership. 3:42-46.
In this video educational leaders discuss the challenges presented by and impacts experienced from implicit bias in schools.
The Voice: Highlights from 2018 (The Voice). 2018. Vialogue. EdLab Teachers College: Columbia University.
This study investigates the ability of a brief empathy-inducing intervention to improve the implicit bias of pre-service teachers, as measured by an Implicit Association Test. The authors found empathy intervention statistically significant at decreasing the implicit bias of White female pre-service teachers toward Black individuals.
Whitford, D. K., & Emerson, A. M. (2019). Empathy intervention to reduce implicit bias in preservice teachers. Psychological Reports, 122(2), 670–688.
This article’s authors described racial and ethnic inequity in educational systems from the vantage point of psychological theory. Practitioners may be interested in this work because it links disparities in education to disparities in society overall. Additionally, the suggested interventions are provided based on established psychological concepts.
Quintana, Stephen M., Mahgoub, L. 2016. “Ethnic and Racial Disparities in Education: Psychology's Role in Understanding and Reducing Disparities.” Theory into Practice. 55 (2): 94-103.
This Board policy ensures equal access to educational opportunity for all students by minimizing or elimination the impacts of disparities in ability, levels of preparation, available resources and social-cultural differences in achievement and performance. Also, it describes how to prevent disproportionality associated between a child's race or ethnicity and the number and type of special education classifications and placements that result.
Mount Diablo Unified School District. 2011. School Board policy - Disproportionality Policy/BP0411. Concord, California: Mount Diablo Unified School District (DOCUMENT)
This report on the school-to-prison pipeline examines root causes of school and societal failure for certain groups and offers resolutions and strategies for addressing inequities.
ABA Joint Task Force on Reversing the School to Prison Pipeline. 2018. School-to-Prison Pipeline: Report, Recommendations and Preliminary Report. https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/images/racial_ethnic_justice/Final%20School2PrisonPipeline-2nd-012618.pdf
This report on the school-to-prison pipeline examines root causes of school and societal failure for certain groups and offers resolutions and strategies for addressing inequities.
ABA Joint Task Force on Reversing the School to Prison Pipeline. 2018. School-to-Prison Pipeline: Report, Recommendations and
Preliminary Report. https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/images/racial_ethnic_justice/Final%20School2PrisonPipeline-2nd-012618.pdf
Perception Institute partnered with the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society at UC Berkeley and the Center for Policing Equity at UCLA to generate this report, which provides an in-depth look at the role of implicit bias, racial anxiety, and stereotype threat in producing disparities in education and healthcare.
Godsil, Rachel D., Tropp, Linda R., Goff, Phillip Atiba, and Powell, John A. 2014. "The Science of Equality, Volume 1: Addressing Implicit Bias, Racial Anxiety, and Stereotype Threat in Education and Health Care." Perception Institute
This article discusses the overrepresentation of Latinx students in special education. It discusses the root causes of significant disproportionality for Latinx students, pre-referral process and data collection, deficit oriented perspectives and building relationships with student and families.
Lueimo, P., Bindreiff, D. 2021. The disproportionality of Latinx students in Special Education: The growing need to build relationships. Leadership Magazine. Sacramento, California: Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) https://leadership.acsa.org/jan-feb-2021
A guide designed to assist local and state leaders in initiating critical conversations within their schools and communities about disproportionality.
National Education Association (2007).
