Unforgetting Bias through a Neuroscience‑Informed Mixed‑Methods Critical Consciousness Training (CCT) for Special Education Decision-Making

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 9:45 am - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Unforgetting Bias and Reimagining Systems: Novel Mixed Methods Approaches for Educational Equity and Decision-Making

Abstract

Racially minoritized students remain overrepresented in restrictive, inappropriate placements—a disparity fueled by teachers’ implicit biases and racialized construction of student ability codified in Individualized Education Plan (IEP) language. Conventional surveys and professional development cannot detect and seldom interrupt these millisecond biases. We present a mixed‑methods, neuro‑informed intervention embedding electroencephalography (EEG) and event‑related potential (ERP) audit‑feedback within an eight‑week Critical Consciousness Training for pre‑service special education teachers. Guided by Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and the Iterative Reprocessing Model, the design triangulates neural markers, behavioral metrics, and narrative reflections during IEP simulations. We provide heuristics, data sources, and both methodological and implementation warrants, yielding a transferable blueprint that “unforgets” special education’s exclusionary past while intercepting bias in real time to advance equity‑centred practice.

Authors

• Faith Olivia Lynn Garrington, University of Minnesota

• LeAnne Johnson, University of Minnesota

• Philip Da Zelazo, University of Minnesota