# data[].attributes.body
This article tackles the commonality of racial bias in schools and mentions that teachers are not immune to prejudice and racial biases. This article could reach all grade levels as the first strategy mentioned is to have open dialogue amongst teachers and administration in the schools. The article goes on to talk about the higher expectations teachers put on white students as opposed to their black and latino counterparts. Another strategy that is suggested is to employ teachers from other racial and ethnic backgrounds. A strategy that was brought up in the article is blind grading, which would be for the teacher to grade students' work without knowing who the work came from. This would be a strategy for older grade bands, and one I am seeing now similarly. For example, more and more assignments are put on websites for students to complete, and the assignment is auto-graded without the teacher even seeing the work completed.
Reference:
Cairns, G. (2 December 2020). Racial bias in schools-how common is it, and how can it be tackled. Retrieved from: https://www.teachwire.net/news/racial-bias-in-schools-how-common-is-it-and-how-can-it-be-tackled

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Racial bias in schools - how common is it, and how can it be tackled?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Even the supposedly liberal profession of teaching isn't immune. According to a study published earlier this year, levels of subconscious racial bias exhibited by teachers are comparable to to any other sector of society, with three out of four teachers demonstrating implicit bias - just 0.1% less than wider society.

# data[].attributes.body
This article looks at the growing religious biases in public schools. The article did not mention the grade level in which the study was conducted, but I believe this would be useful in the older elementary and secondary grade levels. This article touches on the growing bias amongst Muslim students and atheist students, and in all types of socioeconomic backgrounds. The strategies that were suggested for the administrators of these schools is to become better acclimated with existing laws and constitutional standards, as well as, hiring a more diverse staff. Also mentioned was maintaining the changing demographics of neighborhoods.
Reference:
Eckart, K. (22 September 2020). Muslims, atheists more likely to face religious discrimination in the US. Retrieved from: https:/https://www.washington.edu/news/2020/09/22/muslims-atheists-more-likely-to-face-religious-discrimination-in-us/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
News releases | Research | Social science

Muslims and atheists in the United States are more likely than those of Christian faiths to experience religious discrimination, according to new research led by the University of Washington.

In the study, which focused on public schools because they are government-run, community-facing institutions, the researchers tested responses to an individual's expression of religious belief. In addition to finding greater bias against religious minorities, the researchers also saw that ardent expressions of faith, regardless of religious tradition, were more prone to discrimination.

"The U.S. is becoming a much more culturally diverse society than in the past, and the rate of change is happening very swiftly. So we wanted to ask: How are our public institutions keeping up? Can they provide equal accommodations and protection under the law?" said Steve Pfaff, a University of Washington professor of sociology and lead author of the study, which published Aug. 30 in Public Administration Review.

Religious bias may be a very serious problem, but it has been studied less than other types of discrimination, such as race- or gender-based discrimination, Pfaff added.

"Schools bear this enormous responsibility and perform this important service, and one thing that's changing quickly, among the population, is religion. So how are schools handling all that change?" he said.

Pfaff points to national statistics that reflect the change: The percentage of Americans who identify as "unchurched" has increased from 16% to 23% in the past decade; the percentage of Americans who identify as Muslim, while small, is expected to double to 2%, by 2050.

For this study, which was conducted in spring 2016, researchers sent an email to some 45,000 school principals in 33 states, including Washington. The email was presented as a note from a family new to the community. The randomized messages varied by belief system - Catholic, Protestant, Muslim or atheist, signaled by a faith-oriented quote in the email signature - and also varied the degree of religious expression in the body of the note. The basic version asked for a meeting to learn about the school; a second version sought to find a school that was the right fit for their beliefs; and a third inquired about accommodation of religious needs at school. A control email presented as a family new to the community, interested in learning about the school, but with no religious expression or a faith-oriented email signature.

The research team chose the audit approach, with its contrived email, over a more standard survey on the assumption that asking people questions about religious bias may not yield genuinely honest answers, Pfaff said. Much research in the social sciences suggests that subjects are unlikely to volunteer what they think will be perceived as discriminatory opinions.

Research email template:

Subject: School visit?

Dear principal,

Hello. My family and I will be moving into the area sometime this summer. Right now, we are deciding where exactly to move and are looking at schools for our [son/daughter], [Jonah/Sarah]. Before we pick a place to live, we would like to meet with you or a member of your staff and chat a bit about your school. Would that be possible?

[A] [One of the reasons we would like to meet with you is that we are raising [Jonah/Sarah] to be a good [Christian/Catholic/Muslim/Atheist/Humanist] and want to make sure that this would be possible at your school.]

[B] [One of the reasons we would like to meet with you is that we are raising [Jonah/Sarah] to be a good [Christian/Catholic/Muslim/Atheist/Humanist] and want to protect [him/her] from anything that runs counter to our beliefs. We want to make sure that this would be possible at your school.]

Sincerely,

[Isaac Adam/Rebekah Adam]

[C] [Catholicism/Christianity/Islam/Atheism teaches that life is precious and beautiful. We would live our lives to the fullest, to the end of our days. -Pope Benedict/Rev. Billy Graham/The Prophet Muhammad/Richard Dawkins].

While none of the principals' responses were explicitly negative, Pfaff said, it was the lack of response that indicated a pattern. Somewhat less than half of emails got a response. But those that signaled affiliation with Islam or atheism, indicated by a famous quote attributed to either the Prophet Muhammad or Richard Dawkins in the email signature, were about 5 percentage points less likely to receive a response than the control emails. Email response rates to notes accompanied by a quote from Pope Benedict XVI or the Rev. Billy Graham mirrored those of the control emails.

Principals displayed across-the-board bias in response to the more overt emails that suggested that their schools might have to accommodate religious requests from parents. In the presence of such treatment language in the email text, the probability of a response declined by as much as 13 percentage points for atheists, nearly 9 percentage points for Muslims, 7.8 percentage points for Catholics and 5.5 percentage points for Protestants. This finding strongly suggests that some bias may result from the perception that religious accommodations of various kinds might be difficult or costly, burdens that principals want to avoid, Pfaff said.

The study's findings were evident nationwide; emails were sent to principals in 33 states, and even when testing the potential effect of local demographics - whether an urban, diverse community, Democratic or Republican-leaning, or a more homogenous, rural one - the observed discrimination against religious minorities was consistent. That suggests that religious discrimination can occur anywhere, that it's not reflective of geography or political ideology, Pfaff said.

"Religious bias in response to a routine inquiry from a public school official, amounting to a 5 to 13 percent lower chance of response, reflects substantial evidence of bias," Pfaff said.

The findings may indicate that the perceived cost in dealing with a person or situation factors in to whether they receive a reply. In that case, the perceived cost may have as much to do with community attitudes and norms about religion in school, or about specific religions, as the principal's own beliefs or biases, Pfaff said. However, bias against Muslims and atheists on the basis of self-identification, without any request for accommodation, could stem from discrimination rooted in moral judgments. From a discrimination-research perspective, frontline bureaucrats, such as city or county workers or school principals, are an appropriate study pool - perhaps even more than elected officials - because they have so many seemingly routine interactions with the public.

Many other factors could also contribute to a lack of response, Pfaff added, not the least of which is workload and competing demands on a principal's time. But the pattern of who did not receive a response was clear in the patterns of discrimination against Muslim and atheist emails, as well as discrimination against more overt displays of any faith.

Judaism was not included in the study because at the time previous research suggested little discrimination, and very positive public attitudes, toward Jews. In the years since, however, public expressions of anti-Semitism have increased, and in retrospect, including Judaism in the study would have been valuable, Pfaff acknowledged.

The focus of the study on public schools suggests specific policy solutions, such as briefing school administrators and staff about existing laws and constitutional standards concerning non-discrimination and legitimate religious accommodations, Pfaff said. Hiring a more diverse administrative staff and maintaining a general awareness of changing neighborhood demographics and public values could help better prepare school officials to serve their communities.

Co-authors were Charles Crabtree of Dartmouth College; Holger Kern of Florida State University; and John Holbein of the University of Virginia.

For more information, contact Pfaff at pfaff@uw.edu.

Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences * Department of Sociology * Steve Pfaff

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Muslims, atheists more likely to face religious discrimination in US

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
News releases | Research | Social science Muslims and atheists in the United States are more likely than those of Christian faiths to experience religious discrimination, according to new research led by the University of Washington. In the study, which focused on public schools because they are government-run, community-facing institutions, the researchers tested responses to an individual's expression of religious belief.

# data[].attributes.body
This article was included because it combined racial biases within special education. The question asked was if black children are overrepresented in special education, and were those children put into special education because they were falling behind due to behaviors. The article goes on to say that a strategy to remedy this overrepresentation was the reauthorization of the 2004 IDEA. This focused in on children who did not qualify for special education or related services, but did still need support academically or behaviorally. The article mentions that this could be used for any grade level, but more specifically Kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Reference:
Samuels, C. A. (4 March 2016). Racial bias in special education: Learning about disproportionality. Retrieved from: https:/https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/racial-bias-in-special-education-learning-about-disproportionality/2016/03

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Equity in education has been a top priority for the Obama administration, and acting U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. helped unveil the proposal a week ago.

"The data we've seen makes it very clear that we, as a country, are not living up to the intent of the law," said King. The Obama Administration's My Brother's Keeper initiative has identified equity for students with disabilities as a key priority.

The proposal involves tightening up policies on how states can calculate what's known as "disproportionality," while loosening up some current restrictions on just how to address the problem. But it'll come to no surprise to anyone who follows special education that the topic is complicated, so I'll help you cut through the fog.

OK, so just what is 'disproportionality'?

Are minorities or English-language learners being inappropriately identified for special education services, suspended or expelled more than other students with disabilities, or shifted inappropriately into settings other than general education classrooms, such as alternative schools or "resource rooms?" If so, those are examples of disproportionality.

When did disproportionality become a part of special education law?

The 1997 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act first touched on the subject, giving states the authority to look into the problem and ask districts to adjust policies if necessary. But it was the 2004 reauthorization of the law-which is still in place-that gave this provision more teeth.

What did the 2004 IDEA reauthorization do to address disproportionality?

Congress was clearly concerned about what it still saw as too many minorities in special education. So, it changed the law to say that if states found that some of their districts had "significant disproportionality," those districts would be required to spend 15 percent of their federal special education money on "coordinated, early intervening services."

Under current regulations, that money is not to be used for students already identified as having disabilities, which seems illogical. But current guidance to the states says that the money is for students "who are not currently identified as needing special education or related services, but who need additional academic and behavioral support to succeed in a general education environment." The money can be spent at any grade, but the Education Department wants states to focus on kindergarten through 3rd grades.

Districts found to have overrepresentation that does not rise to the level of "significant" are also allowed to use part of their federal special education money for early-intervention services. They don't have to, though.

Who determines what significant disproportionality is, and how?

States make that determination. To understand how they figure it out is, well, "math-y."

Wait, no one told me there would be math!

I'm sorry. I'll try to keep this simple, and I'll borrow heavily from the Education Department's own examples to help.
Okay, let's go.
Currently, about half of all states use what's called a "standard" risk ratio to figure out if minority students or English-language learners are overrepresented in certain areas.

The department offers this example: If a district serves 100 black children, and 15 of them are in special education, a black student's likelihood, or "risk," of being identified as a student with a disability is 15 percent. (This same type of calculation could be used for discipline, or for placement in restrictive settings.)

To come up with a risk ratio, you divide the risk to the black students by the risk that a nonblack student in a district has of being identified as a student with a disability.

A risk ratio of 1.0, for example, means that there's no overidentification in this district. A risk factor of 2.0 would show that black students are twice as likely as nonblack students to be enrolled in special education.
So how might this work in a school district?
This example also comes from the Education Department. Let's imagine the Appletree district, which serves 5,000 children, 1,000 of whom are African-American. In Appletree, 450 students are in special education, and 150 of those students are black.

Under this example, the risk of any black student in Appletree being enrolled in special education is 15 percent. That's 150 black children with disabilities divided by 1,000 black children in the district.

By contrast, the risk of any nonblack student in Appletree being enrolled in special education is 7.5 percent. That figure comes from dividing 300 nonblack students with disabilities by 4,000 nonblack students in the district.

So, in this case, the risk ratio to black students for special education identification in Appletree is 2.0. That ratio comes from dividing the 15 percent risk to black students by the 7.5 percent risk for nonblack students.
Whew!
I know. And that's just a start. It gets more complex in districts that have more than just black and white students, of course. And then there are "weighted" risk ratios. About 25 states use that method, which is intended to adjust for differences in district-level demographics by incorporating some state demographics to help standardize the calculation.

So how many districts have been found to have significant disproportionality?

The Education Department provided slightly more up-to-date numbers in the background information that accompanied the proposed rule. During the 2012-13 school year, about 3 percent of the nation's school districts were flagged for overrepresentation, it says. About three-quarters of those districts were in just seven states (with Louisiana still in the lead).
Hmm.
Right. No matter how states were choosing to calculate risk ratios, it just so happened that very few districts met the "significant disproportionality" threshold. The GAO report concluded that if the Education Department really wants more districts to use federal money for early intervention, it needs to come up with some standard calculation that all states would have to use-and that would pull in more districts.
So is that what's this new rule about?
Yes. The department says that it has collected information from other sources, such as the data collection overseen by its office for civil rights, and that data shows widespread racial disparities in identification, placement and discipline. The proposed rule sets out some standard methods that would exclude fewer districts from evaluation. But the states would still be allowed some flexibility. Again, the proposed rule goes into the excruciating detail.

The new rule would also allow the 15 percent set-aside to be used for special education students as well as general education students. And, it could be used for children as young as age 3.

Even though the calculation would be standardized states, still retain the authority to determine just what risk ratio is significant. That threshold has to be "reasonable," however, and the department says states will be subject to monitoring and potentially enforcement actions.
How much will all this cost?
It's not free. The department estimates that the total cost of the new regulations over 10 years would be between $48 million and $87 million. Over that time period, the department also estimates that between $300 million and $553 million in federal dollars would be transferred to early-intervention programs that would be used for students both with and without disabilities.
What's been the response?
Advocacy groups, such as the Council for Parent Attorneys and Advocates, wasted no time in applauding the move. All too often, COPAA said, "special education designation has been used to reduce expectations, place students in separate classrooms, and suspend and expel minority students freely." The proposal would help fix those problems, the group believes.
Could minority underrepresentation be a problem in special education, too? So what's next?
Commenters have until May 16. The department will incorporate those responses into a final rule, to be published at a later date.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Racial Bias in Special Education: Learning About Disproportionality

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Equity in education has been a top priority for the Obama administration, and acting U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. helped unveil the proposal a week ago. "The data we've seen makes it very clear that we, as a country, are not living up to the intent of the law," said King.

# data[].attributes.body
This article was chosen because it actually gives an anti-bias training example called "Name it, Claim it, Stop it" which is great, because while other articles also suggest taking a professional development about anti-bias, this article takes it a step further. I also enjoyed how this article talks about looking inside your own biases, naming them, and calling out others in the community. This will ultimately create a safe, classroom community of learners. This article is great for teachers of all grade levels, as we all should create a safe environment for our students.
Reference:
Edjustice. (11 October 19). 5 things educators can do to address bias in their school. Retrieved from: https:/https://neaedjustice.org/2019/10/11/5-things-educators-can-do-to-address-bias-in-their-school/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
NEA is growing the movement to win education justice for our students, schools, and communities.

# data[].attributes.body
I found this article to be interesting as often times discussions of religion, and learning about religions especially in public schools can be considered taboo. Introducing students to diverse religions in public schools can be controversial in terms of separating church and state. The strategy that is suggested in this article is for students to reflect on breaking news through a religious lens. This would align well with a high school history class and students have round table discussion regarding current events, but through a religious lens.
Reference:
Koch, S. (16 November 2018). Confronting religious bias with education. Retrieved from: https:/https://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/confronting-religious-bias-with-education/education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Hate-spurred tragedies like the recent Pittsburgh synagogue massacre make religion-related aggression in the U.S. difficult to deny. However, the increase in the subtler harassment children face at school based on the religion their families practice can more easily slip below the radar.

Anti-Semitic incidents in schools jumped a staggering 94 percent in 2017 - with 457 incidents reported by the Anti-Defamation League - making K-12 schools the place where the most such incidents occurred last year.

Scott Levin, a regional director of the Anti-Defamation League shared in a recent Chalkbeat article that he considers such anti-Semitism in schools a bellwether for other hate incidents, such as those involving Muslim students, students perceived to be immigrants, or students of color.

Pushing back on culturally biased thinking

Teachers addressing current events spurred by hate like the recent Pittsburgh synagogue massacre as part of their lessons are featured in the article.

New York City social studies teacher Andy del Calvo shares that opening discussion on topics related to these events in his classroom, which roughly reflects the city's diversity, provides students an opportunity "to navigate the issues in a way that is deeply important for our democracy - especially today."

The authors note that it's tricky for teachers to examine these events in the classroom without being accused of pushing a political agenda. Still, the school system has an important role in confronting the thought patterns behind hate-fueled incidents including the bias incidents common to schools, which usually occur as verbal insults or graffiti but unchecked can escalate to hate crime as shown in the ADL's pyramid of hate.

"First of all, we just can't wait until an incident happens, and schools now need to practice building cultures of respect," said Maureen Costello in the article. Costello is director of Teaching Tolerance, a Southern Poverty Law Center project that offers anti-bias education resources.

For many districts there's room for improvement when it comes to offering a curriculum that explores diverse cultures in a non-biased fashion and preparing teachers to work with the challenging issues likely to emerge. Even more neglected in K-12 education are classes that teach about religions.

"It's pretty difficult to see how you can understand anything about contemporary human affairs without understanding their religious dimensions," said Diane Moore, founder and director of Harvard Divinity School's Religious Literacy Project in an article by Kelsey Dallas on teachers calling for increased religious literacy in education.

In the article, Jodi Ide, who teaches world religions at Brighton High School, says, "It is so important for students to learn about religion and be taught the basic foundations of major religions. Education has the power to eliminate stereotypes, bias and prejudice."

Even in higher education, religion is often missing notes, Eboo Patel, founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core, a nonprofit group that works with colleges on issues of religious diversity.

"In an era when colleges are expanding their engagement of diversity issues, and at a time when religion plays a central role in public life and global affairs, religion continues to be the dimension of diversity that many institutions leave out," he writes.

Controversy in terms of separation church and state

A key reason school systems at all levels traditionally shy away from including religious studies is to avoid problems associated with the misinterpretation of constitutional restrictions on religion in public schools.

A Pew Research Center survey showed that while 89 percent of adults in the U.S. understood that it's illegal for a public school teacher to lead students in prayer, only 36 percent knew that offering comparative religions studies in public schools is legal. A meager 23 percent were aware that studying the bible for its literary and historic qualities as part of a secular curriculum is also permitted by law.

"Any time we enrich the curriculum with religious studies, there's a potential for controversy," said Charles Haynes, vice president of the Newseum Institute and its Religious Freedom Center. The institute offers lesson plans and other resources for teachers.

Simply scanning the comments following articles on religion, including those cited here, demonstrates the extreme intolerance some readers possess.

Navigating religious discourse prepares students for real-world affairs

"Teachers can't be expected to provide an exhaustive overview of the world's religions in the context of a history or social studies curriculum, but they can train students to reflect on breaking news through a religious lens," notes Moore in the article by Dallas.

Martha Ball, a retired middle school teacher with extensive experience teaching about religion shares in the article that students who learn how to approach potentially controversial, religion-related topics with patience and respect are better prepared for the real world.

Next, we'll look at comparative religion courses that are flourishing at high schools in the United States.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
MultiBrief: Confronting religious bias with education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Hate-spurred tragedies like the recent Pittsburgh synagogue massacre make religion-related aggression in the U.S. difficult to deny. However, the increase in the subtler harassment children face at school based on the religion their families practice can more easily slip below the radar.

# data[].attributes.body
This article was chosen because the grading system for teachers and biases has not really been discussed yet, we have been looking at actual behaviors toward students. A strategy this article suggests for teachers to reduce bias in grading is to use a rubric with specific grading criteria. This strategy would be great for the secondary grade levels where rubrics are used, and assignments have greater detail. The article also suggests that schools implement training to reduce biases, such as professional development to learn how to properly implement a rubric for grading.
Reference:
Quinn, D. M. (2 November 2020). How to reduce racial bias in grading. Retrieved from: https:/https://www.educationnext.org/how-to-reduce-racial-bias-in-grading-research/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Schools and policymakers are mandating new anti-bias training for teachers in an attempt to improve racial attitudes. Decades of research have shown that teachers often give racially biased evaluations of student work and that biased evaluations can affect students' future learning and course-taking decisions. However, less is known about what school leaders can do to correct this problem. Research does not show current forms of anti-bias training to be especially promising in changing behavior.

There is, though, a relatively straightforward, if often overlooked, way to diminish the impact of teachers' racial biases in student evaluation: standardizing grading rubrics. To gauge the potential impact of a standardized rubric on grading bias, I conducted an experiment comparing how teachers graded two identical second-grade writing samples: one presented as the work of a Black student, and one as the work of a white student.

My experiment found that teachers gave the white student better marks across the board-with one exception. When teachers used a grading rubric with specific criteria, racial bias all but disappeared. When teachers evaluated student writing using a general grade-level scale, they were 4.7 percentage points more likely to consider the white child's writing at or above grade level compared to the identical writing from a Black child. However, when teachers used a grading rubric with specific criteria, the grades were essentially the same.

The experiment also included a series of questions asking teachers about their background and their racial attitudes. In exploratory analyses examining bias by teachers' own race, gender, and the racial makeup of the schools where they teach, I found larger bias in grading by white and female teachers, who were less likely to rate the Black child's writing as being on grade level compared to the white child's writing. However, I didn't find any connection between my measures of teachers' implicit and explicit racial attitudes and the differences in grading the Black and white student writing samples.

This experiment suggests that racial stereotypes can influence the scores teachers assign to student work. But stereotypes seem to have less influence on teachers' evaluations when specific grading criteria are established in advance. New instructional practices and tools, such as standards-based grading rubrics and mastery-based grading with specific criteria, present potentially effective approaches to promoting racial equity in schools. Limiting opportunities for biased decisions may have more immediate impact on equitable student evaluation than current forms of anti-bias training.
Building a Grading-Bias Experiment
My experiment took the form of a web-based survey, including demographic questions, a two-part grading task, and a test to measure racial attitudes. I contracted with a private survey provider to recruit a multi-state sample of U.S. schoolteachers. Some 1,799 unique users responded to a survey invitation. Of those, 1,549 teachers working in preschool through 12th grade completed the main survey tasks and were compensated directly by the company for participating. Their responses form the basis of my analysis.

At the start of the survey, teachers were informed that the researcher was interested in learning how educators evaluate student writing. As a subject area, writing is well suited for a study of grading bias for two main reasons. Substantively, the subject area is of interest given that tools for evaluating student writing vary in their focus and specificity. Methodologically, the personal narrative lends itself well to signaling the author's racial identity in a relatively subtle way. Overt statements of a student's race in a grading experiment could arouse suspicion among research participants and affect their responses.

Respondents also answered questions about their gender, race, and number of years in the field, as well as the grade that they teach and the racial composition of their school. Overall, 69 percent were white and 54 percent taught in a predominantly white school. By comparison, about 79 percent of U.S. teachers are white and approximately 45 percent of all U.S. teachers work in schools that are less than 50 percent white, according to federal data from 2017.
Two Grading Tasks
Teachers were randomly assigned to receive one of two versions of a writing sample. The writing sample was presented in a child's handwriting and was purportedly by a male student in the fall of second grade. It took the form of a brief personal narrative in response to a prompt to write about his weekend and mentioned spending time with his brother and a friend. The versions were identical in all but one aspect: each used different names for the brother to signal either a Black or a white student author (see Figure 1). The name choices came from a list of the most racially distinct names reported by Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner in Freakonomics. In one version, the student author refers to his brother as "Dashawn," signaling a Black author; in the other, his brother is called "Connor," signaling a white author.

Teachers were first asked to rate the writing sample on a relative grade-level scale with seven options, from weak to strong performance: far below grade level, below grade level, and slightly below grade level; at grade level; or slightly above grade level, above grade level, and far above grade level. Performance criteria were not explicitly defined.

Then, they were asked to rate the writing sample again. This time, teachers were given a rubric with more clearly defined performance criteria for a personal narrative. The rubric included four possible ratings, from weak to strong: fails to recount an event, attempts to recount an event, recounts an event with some detail, or provides a well-elaborated recount of an event. The rubric appeared after the grade-level scale, on a separate screen and without the option to return to the earlier screen. This was designed to ensure that teachers' ratings on the grade-level scale were not influenced by the rubric's criteria.

Substantively, these evaluation measures differ in two important respects. The grade-level scale is general in the sense that it does not specify what dimensions the rater should consider, such as grammar, spelling, creativity, or organization. It also does not clearly specify the gradations among the seven possible ratings, or how a teacher should determine whether the writing is "slightly above grade level" versus "above grade level." In contrast, the rubric specifies which domain teachers should evaluate-in this case, how well the writer recounts an event-and provides more specific descriptors to guide teachers in their rating choices along a four-point scale.
Assessing Racial Attitudes
After the grading exercise, the survey then attempted to collect data on respondents' racial attitudes. This presented a challenge. On one hand, if questions or activities designed to reveal racial attitudes were administered before teachers see the writing sample, the act of completing the racial attitude measures could influence their grading. In particular, the experiment could produce "demand effects," in which teachers adjust their ratings to match what they view as a socially desirable response, such as being particularly careful to show no racial bias. However, if respondents complete the racial attitude measures after viewing the writing sample, the writing sample may influence their racial attitude scores. I opted for the second option, viewing this as less damaging to the experiment overall.

To measure teachers' implicit stereotypes of white and Black students, I adapted a traditional implicit association test to assess respondents' associations between race and competence. These computer-based tests ask respondents to react quickly to ideas and images by assigning them to one of two categories, such as "good" and "bad." In my test, participants identified photos of students' faces as either "African American" or "European American" by pressing a right- or left-hand key on a computer keyboard. Then, those same keys were also used to assign words like intelligent, confident, disorganized, and unskilled to one of two categories: either "Competent" or "Incompetent." The test combines the racial categories and competency categories in various combinations, with the right-hand key used for "European American" and "Incompetent" on one round, and for "African American" and "Incompetent" on the next round, for example.

Implicit association test scores are calculated by comparing response speeds by category. In this case, the relevant question is how long it takes a respondent to assign descriptive "Competence" or "Incompetence" words when those categories use the same keyboard stroke as "African American" or "European American." An implicit association result would indicate a preference for African Americans over European Americans, for example, if a participant's responses were faster when "African American" and "Competence" were assigned to the same key. In my study, just 675 teachers completed the full test and produced valid scores that are included in my analysis. The other half either abandoned the survey or responded to test items so quickly that valid scores could not be calculated.

Finally, teachers were asked to respond to traditional "feeling thermometer" questions in which they rated their feelings toward African Americans and European Americans. A 1-10 scale was shown with 1 representing "very cold" and 10 representing "very warm." I created a measure of explicit bias by calculating the difference in the warmth of each individual teacher's feelings about white and Black Americans. A positive score indicates a preference for white Americans and a negative score indicates a preference for Black Americans. Some 1,549 teachers completed the feeling thermometer questions.
Results by Grading Tool
To compare teachers' grades using both grading tools, I sort grades into two groups based on whether their rating is above or below a cut-off point on each scale. On the vague grade-level scale, I consider how many teachers rate each sample as "at grade level" or above. On the rubric, I look at how many teachers rate the sample as "recounts an event with some detail" or better. However, results were robust to a variety of other analytic choices.

Teachers shown the "Dashawn" version of the writing sample are 4.7 percentage points less likely to rate it as being on grade-level or above compared to teachers shown the "Connor" version (see Figure 2). Some 35 percent of respondents rate the version written by a white student at grade-level or above compared with about 30 percent for the version written by a Black student. However, when those same teachers use a rubric with specific grading criteria, they give essentially identical ratings to the Black and white authors-about 37 percent rate both the "Dashawn" and "Connor" versions as "recounts an event with some detail" or better.

In exploratory analyses, I also investigate differences in grading based on the gender and race of the teacher. Prior research has found that teachers show preference for students with identities similar to their own. In particular, white teachers tend to have lower expectations for Black students than for similar white students (see " The Power of Teacher Expectations," research, Winter 2018). I see evidence of this in my experiment as well, though only when teachers apply the vague grade-level scale. In all groups, when teachers use a specific grading rubric, estimates of bias are small and not significant.

Female teachers assessing a young boy's writing sample show racial bias in their grading, but male teachers do not. Whereas females are 7 percentage points less likely to rate the "Dashawn" sample as being on grade level than the "Connor" sample, the difference for male teachers is small and not statistically significant (see Figure 3).

In looking at teachers by race, I find white teachers are approximately 8 percentage points less likely to rate the Black student's writing as being at grade-level or above compared to the white student's writing. By contrast, teachers of color do not show evidence of evaluation bias.

I also estimate grading bias among teachers who work in more and less racially diverse schools. As in my other analyses, bias is evident when teachers applied vague grade-level standards but not when they used specific criteria on a rubric. Teachers working in schools where no one particular race or ethnic group makes up a clear majority of enrolled students show the most bias in applying the grade-level scale. They are 13 percentage points less likely to rate the writing sample as on or above grade level if it was written by a Black student. There are no significant differences in the ratings assigned by teachers working in predominantly Black, Latinx, or white schools.

Some of these results raise important questions about student-teacher race and gender matching. Given that my teacher subgroup analyses are exploratory, and that this sample is not nationally representative (though it is national in scope), we cannot know whether these findings reflect patterns in the broader population. But they should inspire new hypotheses for further research. Female teachers showed racial bias in grading a Black male student compared to a white male student, whereas male teachers did not. Is a teacher less likely to exhibit racial bias against a student if the student shares the teacher's gender?
Results by Racial Attitudes
I also look at the relationships between teachers' grading bias and racial attitudes as measured by the implicit association test and explicit "warmth" questions.

Both tests showed attitudes that favor whites. The implicit attitudes test found that teachers had a significant association of white students as being more competent than Black students, by 41 percent of a standard deviation. The explicit "thermometer" questions measure showed a small and not significant preference for European Americans compared to Black Americans.

It stands to reason that teachers with higher measured levels of bias could show more bias on the grade-level evaluation measure. However, I find no relationship between teachers' measured attitudes and levels of grading bias, either on the vague grade-level scale or the specific rubric. In no case does the magnitude of the bias differ significantly by teachers' implicit or explicit racial attitudes.

There are several possible explanations for this. First, tests of implicit bias have limitations, and the implicit association test's validity as a test of individual attitudes has been questioned. Second, it may be that my sample size was too small to detect the true influence of implicit attitudes on grading bias.

Indeed, this study did find some divergence in explicit and implicit attitudes. While the implicit attitudes test showed, on average, that teachers had a significant implicit association of white students as being more competent than Black students, the explicit measure showed a much smaller, and not significant, preference for whites. However, if in fact teachers were summoning explicit attitudes to override an initial implicit instinct to rate the "Dashawn" writing prompt lower on the grade-level scale, the experimentally observed grading bias suggests they were not entirely successful. Teachers may have been able to summon their explicit attitudes to dampen, but not entirely eliminate, the influence of implicit attitudes on their grading.
Implications
Scholars and decisionmakers have focused on two distinct approaches for mitigating the effects of negative implicit racial attitudes: training programs that aim to reduce people's general implicit associations and efforts that engineer circumstances to reduce the impact that implicit stereotypes can have on a person's behaviors or judgments. My study shows strong potential from the latter approach when it comes to teacher grading. When teachers use a rubric that orients grading decisions to a limited number of specific, demonstrable criteria, they show no bias in their grading decisions. When teachers are asked to rate student work along a vaguer spectrum of performance, based on meeting "grade-level" standards, their grading favored the white student.

These findings raise a number of questions for future research. There may be something unique about the elements of this experiment that contribute to my results, whether the rubric, the writing sample, or the combination of the two. I can't rule out the possibility that the different sizes of each scale-seven points on the grade-level scale and four on the rubric-affected the amount of bias detected. We also should consider whether the impact of bias on grading could differ depending on the academic subject or the nature of the work being evaluated. The evaluation of student writing is likely more subjective than determining whether a student arrived at the correct answer to a math problem, for example. Additional experiments with other rating scales or other kinds of student work would be helpful.

The generalizability of these findings to the classroom is unknown. How might grading bias differ when teachers are grading their own students? Teachers' bias regarding students that they personally know may differ from the bias we find in this experimental setting, though past research has found some evidence of teachers' racial and gender-based bias being directed toward their own, familiar students. There may therefore be reason to recommend grading rubrics as a means to mitigate bias.

The present study does not offer direct evidence on whether rubrics would produce bias-reducing effects in school classrooms. It is possible that teachers hold strong student-specific biases that rubrics are less effective at overcoming. The findings in this study may be more generalizable to settings where raters are conducting anonymous reviews of essays in which the authors' identities may be signaled through context clues, such as state writing exams or SAT and GRE scoring.

I also note that, in this study, teachers were presented with a rubric without any training or examples on how it is appropriately applied. While using the rubric reduced bias, the grading task was simple and did not have any time constraints, unlike the complex evaluations of student work that teachers make as part of their day-to-day jobs. Previous research has suggested that rubrics do not improve grading reliability unless teachers are trained in how to use them. And in general, any efforts to reform or standardize teachers' classroom practices are less likely to succeed in the absence of aligned coaching and training.

Finally, policies that establish predetermined and clearly defined grading criteria may prove powerful in light of another finding from this study: that the overall bias was driven by white teachers and this bias seems to have been driven by an in-group preference among white teachers for white students. This finding aligns with calls to diversify the teaching force. Nationwide, 79 percent of teachers are white compared to 48 percent of students. Recent research has shown that although the share of teachers of color has grown in recent years, this growth has not kept pace with the increase in the share of students of color, which suggests an ongoing disadvantage for students of color. Insofar as this imbalance powers biased evaluations of student work, it may lead to a vicious cycle in which initial racially biased evaluations from a teacher cause lower future performance from students, which reinforces stereotypes held by teachers, which in turn leads to future bias in evaluations.

There are a great many ways in which racism, past and present, affects the educational opportunities of Black students. One proximate cause of inequality that school and district leaders have an opportunity to address is teachers' racially biased evaluations of students. A relatively simple tool may help start to mitigate the effects of teachers' racial biases on students.
David Quinn is assistant professor of education at the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
New research supports a simple, low-cost teaching tool

# data[].attributes.headline
Recognizing Bias in Early Childhood Education

# data[].attributes.subject
Recognizing Bias in Early Childhood Education

# data[].attributes.body
This video focused in on biases in Early Childhood Education. The women interviewed spoke about a particular bias of placing blame on English Language Learners not quickly learning English and falling behind. An example of understanding young boys and behaviors in the classroom was also discussed. The strategies they suggested were to look at the social/emotional health of both teachers and children. Teachers need to build awareness that biases exist, and build relationships with our students. Another strategy needs to be our responses to children, and finding the reasons why these biases exist. This was a great article for the Early Childhood grade levels.
Reference:
SAMHSA. (13 January 2017). Recognizing bias and promoting equity in early childhood settings. Retrieved from:
https:/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJs1aByD2Ao

# data[].attributes.body
The article, Who Do You Call On, does a great job of pointing out unconscious bias, and what we can do to combat this bias. The article tells a story of a middle school student who felt his teacher would not look at him. The article goes on to mention that even though this was unintentional, the teacher did realize that he had the tendency to look to the other side of the room. The strategies this article writes about it is creating core values for all students to relate to and follow. It also brings up the strategy of putting students into diverse groups for collaboration. The encouragement of participation through these groups will help students build confidence and take responsibility for their own learning. While this article touches on ideas for all age groups, I believe this would reach teachers with students in middle school or high school.
Reference:
Elias, M. J. (21 May 2021). Who do you call on? Rooting out implicit bias. Retrieved from: https:/https://www.edutopia.org/article/who-do-you-call-rooting-out-implicit-bias?gclid=CjwKCAjwloCSBhAeEiwA3hVo_XwgrN1BJRKVVCjnlnwLPIPPn8PiyZ4RovM9SZb5PNEzXaiAm1p8_BoCYVQQAvD_BwE

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
When teachers who find evidence of unconscious bias take steps to correct it, they can create a more welcoming space for all students.

I was approached by a middle school student who said, "My teacher doesn't like me." I knew the teacher, and I couldn't conceive of him communicating something like that to a student. I said that I found it hard to imagine, and the student insisted, "He doesn't like me." I asked him how he knew. "He never looks at me." I said I thought that was surprising but would look into it.

When I sat in on a couple of classes, I saw that the student sat in the front on the far right side of the room, and the teacher looked almost exclusively to the left half of the room. I spoke to the teacher about it, and he had no idea about his tendency to look to his right. I suggested that he use a technique I learned about from UK researcher Michael Fielding and rotate asking a few students over the course of a few weeks to keep track of some of his patterns:

Where he tended to face.

Who does he tend to call on-male/female; race/ethnicity; disability status.

In what parts of the room did he tend to call on students.

With which students did he use or not use a student's name when he called on them.

The teacher spoke with the student once the issue was brought to his attention. He said the incident made him and his class more aware of how they all-teacher and students-could inadvertently insult, offend, or exclude someone without realizing it.

As we work to improve our students' social and emotional skills and help them understand how to form relationships using both words and nonverbal behaviors, it stands to reason that they will be more aware of how they are treated by their teachers, lunch aides, bus drivers, administrators, and other adults. So adults need to be more aware of what they are projecting with their actions.

Implicit Biases?

Tendencies to look left or right or call on boys more or usually call on people in the front or back of the room can be considered forms of implicit bias. Similarly, it's a form of bias to favor students of certain racial or ethnic backgrounds in the frequency of calling on them or using their names. These are not patterns we consciously plan, yet many of us have them.

As Jay Wamsted noted in a January 2021 Edutopia article, tracking is the most effective way to identify biases. Before introducing students to tracking some of the areas above, teachers would have a direct conversation with their class about these kinds of implicit biases and the benefits of tracking them honestly. This models the idea that we all have implicit biases, and it's OK to get help in identifying them as the first step in reducing them.

While students can help track certain behaviors, other areas are less appropriate for students to monitor directly. These are areas in which biases can lead to significant differences in students' opportunities:

Who do you speak to informally?

Who gets to help you when you need assistance in the classroom?

Who do you suggest for opportunities (e.g., clubs, service, extracurriculars)?

Who do you encourage when they don't volunteer?

If teachers discover bias, it's best to confront it right away. As cognitive scientist Daniel Kahneman has shown throughout his career, we all have biases of varying kinds. It's often difficult-and ultimately pointless-to wonder how we acquired them. What matters is to identify them and then work to eliminate those we feel will be harmful to our students' success.

Participation Is the Key

When biases operate, as in the example I started with, students often give up, lose hope, disconnect, and learn less. This response to what they feel as dislike, ignoring, or outright rejection (even though this is the furthest thing from most teachers' minds) makes sense-when people don't feel their participation matters or is appreciated, it's natural to be less motivated to try, leading to less motivation to learn.

We see this, for example, with participation of girls in STEM classes. Years of bias-girls being called on less, not being given opportunities, expected to not be the best-create internalized oppression. They stop trying. So someone walking into a classroom and seeing all the male hands up and the female hands down would say, "Of course more boys are called on. They volunteer more." That's why it is so necessary to uncover and reduce biases and encourage enthusiastic classroom participation.

Class participation involves a number of social and emotional competencies, as well as character attributes such as courage, persistence, and confidence. There are ways to make it easier for more students to feel that their participation is welcome without requiring norm-breaking initiative:

Before a class discussion, have students meet in pairs to share ideas about the topic to be discussed, or have them meet in small groups to discuss the topic and rotate having students report out a summary of the group's thoughts. Provide the questions that will be covered in the discussion, and give students a few minutes to gather their thoughts and write them down. This way, their later participation will be more like reading their ideas than having to think on the spot.

When you put students in pairs or groups, create intentionally diverse mixes, and have a goal of students being with as many different classmates as possible.

Articulate core values for the classroom that apply to all. This creates a set of uniform expectations that all students are believed to be capable of living up to. Explicitly holding everyone to common standards sends an important equity message, and so does ensuring that classroom and school discipline systems are firm, fair, restorative, and consistent.

By paying attention to our own patterns of encouraging classroom participation-and letting students know we are doing so and why-we take essential steps toward increasing all students' sense of value and potential. As we improve the diversity of student participation, we create the additional benefit of reducing the operation of implicit biases in students about their classmates... because biases have a way of being contagious.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Who Do You Call On? Rooting Out Implicit Bias

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
When teachers who find evidence of unconscious bias take steps to correct it, they can create a more welcoming space for all students. I was approached by a middle school student who said, "My teacher doesn't like me." I knew the teacher, and I couldn't conceive of him communicating something like that to a student.

# data[].attributes.body
This article does a great job of writing about the importance of general education teachers to receive more training when working with students with disabilities, and that their biases come from a lack of preparedness. As students with disabilities are in more inclusive classrooms, opportunities need to be given to teachers to learn how to include students with disabilities, through professional development for example. This article would be great for teachers kindergarten through 12th grade.
Reference:
Educators for Educators (n.d.). Teacher bias: Special Education. Retrieved from: https:/https://u.osu.edu/esphe3206/ss-were-going-down/

# data[].attributes.body
This article talks about a co-teaching model for the intervention specialist and general education teacher to work together to combat biases. It also brings up the point for students to take responsibility for their own learning, even when they are on an IEP. This article spans all grade levels.
Reference:
Cooper, T. (1 May 2017). It's time to address bias against special education students. Retrieved from: https://the educatorsroom.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
It's Time to Address Teacher Bias Against Special Education Students

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As a special educator for eight years, I can honestly say that most teachers have good intentions when it comes to reaching all children.