Centering Teacher-Student Relationships: A Holistic Approach to Understanding the Role of Teacher Bias and Student Perspectives

Introduction: Growing suspension rates predict major negative life outcomes, including adult incarceration and unemployment. This breeds inequality since Black students are disproportionately at-risk for discipline problems andultimately the “school-to-prison” pipeline; yet little research has been conducted to investigate the psychological processes that contribute to those disparities. Some theories suggest that the disparities result from teacher-student dynamics and teacher bias. Other theories suggest the disparities result from racial differences in students’ attitudes and behavior. My research focuses on the teacher-student relationship as it pertains to discipline problems. By investigating how the perspectives of both teachers and students interact over time, I aim to develop and test novel theory and scalable psychological interventions to mitigate discipline disparities.

Methods: I have explored these processes utilizing an “Empathic-Discipline” intervention to reduce suspension rates. The intervention was tested at five middle schools in three districts (Nteachers = 31; Nstudents = 1,682). It halved year-long student suspension-rates from 9.6% to 4.8%. It also bolstered respect for the most at-risk students, previously suspended students, as perceived by teachers. Yet a substantial race disparity persisted in suspension rates. A new series of experiments tests the mechanisms by which Empathic-Discipline works and if it can be adapted to mitigate large racial disparities in discipline rates. Experiment 1 tested whether a teacher’s consideration of a Black student’s potential for growth and his perspective about misbehavior, as compared to one or neither, would reduce negative responses to his misbehavior. Experiment 2 tested if consideration of the potential to develop positive relationships with students would reduce negative responses to misbehavior.

Results: These hypotheses from Experiments 1 and 2 were confirmed. A final experiment tested if a combination of considering (1) a student’s potential for growth, (2) one’s own potential to build positive relationships with students, and (3) a student’s perspective for misbehavior would reduce negative responses to misbehavior and racial disparities in responses to misbehavior.

Conclusion:This study addresses the question: Can teacher-student conflict be mitigated with psychological interventions that target teachers’ mindsets about misbehavior and students’ perceptions of respect? The effects of considering student growth potential, the potential to build positive relationships with students, and student’s perspective for misbehavior can inform future theory, interventions, and policy geared toward combatting the effects of bias.