Poster #78 - Implicit Bias, Exclusionary Discipline, and Expectations for Students: Does the Teacher-Student Racial/Ethnic Match Matter?

• In Event: 3-159 - Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Section - Education, Schooling

Integrative Statement

Implicit racial biases – unconscious race-related stereotypes that contribute to a person’s behavior – are increasingly considered to play a role in the persistent achievement gap for racial/ethnic minority students. Specifically, teachers’ implicit racial bias predicts both student achievement and an ethnic achievement gap in the classroom (Van den Bergh et al., 2010), while student racial/ethnic background has been linked to teachers’ perceptions of their behaviors (Sonuga-Barke et al., 1993). There is also recent research suggesting that teacher-student racial/ethnic match is linked with teachers’ perceptions of behavior and their expectations in the classroom (Gilliam et al., 2016). Another study has shown that teachers of color use less exclusionary discipline with, and expect more from, their students of color (Lindsay & Hart, 2017; Gershenson, Hold & Papgeorge, 2015). Despite the extant research on implicit bias, student-teacher racial/ethnic match, and discipline disparities, little research has examined the role a potential interaction between match and implicit bias might play in discipline disparities and educational expectations of students.

In order to better understand the interplay of implicit bias and racial/ethnic match in the classroom, the current study uses data from a large school-based intervention to examine the associations between teachers’ implicit racial bias, and both their educational attainment expectations of and use of exclusionary discipline with students of color in a diverse upper elementary and middle school sample. In particular, we examine the extent to which racial/ethnic match between a teacher and minority student may affect these relationships. Teachers (N = 98) completed measures assessing their use of exclusionary discipline with, and educational attainment expectations of, students with whom they had the most difficulty. Teacher and student race/ethnicity were collected.

We hypothesized that teachers with more implicit racial bias against African Americans would have lower educational expectations for, and use more exclusionary discipline with, their students of color. However, we expect that this pattern will be less evident when racial/ethnic minority students are paired with a teacher who is also a racial/ethnic minority.

Findings indicate a significant main effect of implicit bias on educational expectations. No other significant main effects were found. There was, however, a significant interaction effect between race match and implicit bias only for educational attainment expectations, such that for students who did match their teacher’s race/ethnicity, higher teacher bias against African Americans predicted higher expectations of students than when teachers had bias against Caucasians; while for students who did not match their teacher’s race/ethnicity, high teacher bias against African Americans predicted lower expectations of students than when teachers had high bias against Caucasians.

Findings will be discussed in terms of implications for further investigation of implicit bias in classrooms, as well as pre-service teacher training, and other interventions that might address the racial/ethnic achievement and discipline gaps.

Authors

• Jasmin E Castillo, Pennsylvania State University
  Presenting Author

• Catherine Margaret Corbin, University of Virginia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jason Downer, University of Virginia - CASTL
  Non-Presenting Author