Session: Measuring and Reducing Teachers' Implicit Bias to Enhance Equity in Academic and Behavioral Outcomes for Students of Color (Society for Prevention Research 27th Annual Meeting)

The goal of this symposium is to present a series of papers focused on measuring and reducing teachers’ implicit biases in their classroom management practices and relationships with their students. The symposium supports the conference theme of health disparities. Reducing ethnic and racial bias in teachers’ classroom behaviors and relationships has implications for mitigating pervasive inequalities in academic and behavioral outcomes for marginalized students of color, which can affect short- and long-term trajectories in health and well-being.

The first paper, “Disproportionality in Classroom Management: Measuring Implicit Bias by Coding Variation in Observable Behaviors between Classrooms” presents an observational coding scheme that was developed to capture teachers’ implicit biases in their classroom management practices. This paper provides a novel technique for codifying bias in the classroom which can facilitate future interventions that train teachers to recognize and prevent these manifestations of bias.

The second paper, “Addressing Discipline Disparities for Black Male Students: Linking Malleable Root Causes to Feasible and Effective Practices” presents results of a multiple baseline study in three schools evaluating a professional development program for reducing office referrals for Black male students. Visual analysis and single case effect size estimates showed that the program reduced office referrals by half compared to baseline averages. The program was effective at reducing the relative risk of black students, compared to all other students, being referred to the office.

The final paper, “Utilizing the Establish-Maintain-Restore Approach to Improve Student-Teacher Relationships for Students of Color” describes two studies that implement a relational strategy, Establish-Maintain-Restore (EMR), to improve academic and behavioral engagement for adolescents of color. The first study presents results from a randomized control trial of EMR in middle school that did not demonstrate racial differences in effectiveness. The second study discusses the results of an iterative intervention development process to integrate a focus on implicit bias and cultural responsiveness into EMR and understand how these adaptations may contribute to more equitable outcomes for students of color.

After the conclusion of the presentations, the discussant, who has expertise in developing and implementing school-based interventions to reduce disparities, will synthesize the findings across the three papers. She will consider how measuring and intervening upon teachers’ implicit biases can enhance equity and reduce racial and ethnic inequalities, emphasizing the alignment of this symposium with SPR’s strategic plan and health disparities task force.