Disrupting Racism in Schools: Early Findings From an Evaluation of a Racial Justice Program

• In Event: "It's a Marathon, Not a Sprint": Sustaining Racial Justice Work in Schools

Abstract

Objectives
Evidence shows that educators’ racial biases influence numerous aspects of school environments in ways that are harmful to students of color. Racial biases influence a range of schooling practices including curriculum and pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995; Metropolitan Center, 2010); special education placement (Hibel, Farkas, & Morgan, 2010) discipline policies (Fabelo et al., 2011); school culture (Mitchell, Bradshaw, & Leaf, 2010); and family engagement (Williams & Sanchez, 2011). To address these disparities, the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) recently invested $23 million to provide training in implicit bias to all district teachers. The Center for Racial Justice in Education (CRJE) is one of the prominent organizations offering training of this kind to New York City educators. CRJE’s training focuses on race as a social construct, the ways in which racism manifests in education, and actions educators can take to disrupt racism in their schools. In this paper, we present findings from our evaluation of CRJE’s core programming, which includes a) Talking about Race (TAR), a three-hour anti-racism training for educators and b) Racial Justice in Schools (RJIS), a year-long partnership in which CRJE supports schools to implement racial equity plans.

Theoretical Framework
Our evaluation is grounded in critical race theory, which simultaneously understands race and racism as social constructs and as phenomena which result in negative material consequences for racialized people (Bell, 1992; Delgado & Stefancic, 2017; Harris et al., 2015). In order to make sense of the ways in which racism manifests in schools, we also utilize scholarship on colorblindness (Bonilla-Silva, 2010), deficit thinking (Baldridge, 2014), implicit bias (Staats, 2014), stereotype threat (Steele, 2010), and microaggressions (Sue et al, 2007).

Methods
The Research Alliance is conducting a three-year mixed-method evaluation of CRJE’s programming. Primary sources of data collection include pre-post surveys for educators who participated in TAR trainings (administered across 14 schools) and ethnographic case studies of two schools that participated in RJIS. Case studies include interviews and focus groups with administrators and educators; observations of school trainings as well as RJIS-related programming; and collection of RJIS-related documents.

Results
Preliminary results suggest that participants in CRJE programming developed new understandings about race and racism and increased their awareness about the history of racism. Additionally, educators reported increased understanding of their role in school-based racism and willingness to address racism in their schools. Despite some resistance, school staff also reported changes in behavior, including interactions with students, decisions about special education referrals, and selection of curricular materials. Schools participating in RJIS have also developed plans to conduct a curriculum audit, address hiring practices, and improve family engagement.

Significance
Research demonstrates that educators’ racial biases impact various areas of schooling, resulting in negative outcomes for students of color. This research makes an important contribution to the literature by examining the types of support that educators and administrators need to improve the racial equity of their schools. Our findings will provide valuable insights for other programs that focus on disrupting racism in schools.

Authors

• Adriana Villavicencio, University of California - Irvine

• Kathryn Hill, Research Alliance for New York City Schools

• Sarah L Klevan, Learning Policy Institute