How does teacher bias influence students?: An introduction to the special issue on teachers’ implicit attitudes, instructional practices, and student outcomes

doi:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2021.101523

Learning and Instruction

Volume 78, April 2022, 101523

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2021.101523 Get rights and content

Highlights

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Implicit biases are unconscious stereotypes that influences perceptions.
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Teachers' explicit beliefs influence students' learning and achievement.
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Racial/ethnic students are often influenced by teachers' implicit biases.

Abstract

Implicit bias, unconscious beliefs based upon stereotypes and prejudices, has emerged as a useful way to understand and explain issues of discrimination, particularly involving race. The influence of implicit bias has been explored in various academic disciplines and numerous contexts, including education. Despite the burgeoning research literature, there is limited research on the role implicit bias plays within the classroom. The goal of this special issue is to broaden and challenge the current thinking on teacher implicit bias and attitudes as well as their influence on students.

Section snippets

Teacher bias and attitudes

Although it is widely known and well-documented in the research literature that teachers' explicit beliefs and expectations influence students' learning and achievement (Brophy, 1983; Diamond, Randolph, & Spillane, 2004; Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968) as well as their self-beliefs, academic beliefs, and attitudes toward school (Cheng & Starks, 2002; Hallinan, 2008; Jussim & Harber, 2005; Rubie-Davies, 2006; Rubie-Davies, Hattie, & Hamilton, 2006), teachers' implicit biases and attitudes, which may

Influence of implicit bias and attitudes on students

Although there is a lack of methodological clarity in examining implicit bias, there has been research on the influence of teacher implicit bias on students. As Staats (2016) points out, “In education, the real-life implications of implicit biases can create invisible barriers to opportunity and achievement for some students” (p. 33). These students, often belonging to low-status minoritized groups, endure both short-term and long-term consequences of their teachers’ implicit biases and

The study of teacher implicit bias and attitudes in context: the special issue

The goal of this special issue is to expand upon the current research in the field and challenge the current thinking on teacher implicit bias and attitudes as well as their influence on students. This issue features five articles that use various theoretical and methodological approaches to study how implicit bias is manifested in schools, often troubling current methodological approaches. Focusing on global contexts, the articles showcase the complexity of teacher implicit bias and attitudes

Author statement

Jessica T. DeCuir-Gunby is the Department Head and a Professor of Educational Psychology in the Department of Teacher Education and Learning Sciences at NC State University. Her research interests include race and racial identity development, critical race theory, mixed methods, and emotions and education. Vandna Gill Bindra is a Teaching Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology in the Department of Teacher Education and Learning Sciences at NC State University. Her research interests

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The joint operations of teacher-student and peer relationships on classroom engagement among low-achieving elementary students: A longitudinal multilevel study
2024, Contemporary Educational Psychology
Although both teacher-student relationship (TSR) and peer relationship (PR) have been found important for the development of students’ classroom engagement, little research has been done regarding the joint operations of these two factors. Guided by a developmental systems framework, this study examined longitudinal between-person and within-person associations between TSR/ PR and classroom engagement in a sample of 784 low-achieving students in the first three years of elementary school. A multidimensional approach was used to distinguish positive and negative dimensions of TSR, as well as peer liking and disliking. At the between-person level, results showed that students’ classroom engagement was positively predicted by positive TSR and PR liking and was negatively predicted by negative TSR and PR disliking. Both positive and negative TSR interacted with PR disliking at the between-person level, such that the associations between positive/negative TSR and classroom engagement were stronger for students with lower levels of PR disliking. At the within-person level, changes in classroom engagement were associated with contemporaneous year-to-year changes in positive/negative TSR and PR disliking. No within-person level interaction effects were found. Cross-level interaction showed that the effects of within-person negative TSR on classroom engagement were stronger for students with lower overall levels of PR disliking. Findings highlighted the importance of using a multilevel multidimensional approach to understand the joint operations of TSR and PR in the development of classroom engagement in low-achieving students in early elementary school.
Do intercultural education and attitudes promote student wellbeing and social outcomes? An examination across PISA countries
2024, Learning and Instruction
Recent research indicates a rise in classroom diversity and declines in students' psychosocial outcomes, particularly for those from diverse backgrounds. These trends necessitate a concerted effort by schools to uphold social cohesion and ensure the wellbeing of all students.
We examine the associations of intercultural education practices and teachers' intercultural attitudes with students’ psychosocial outcomes (eudaimonia, life satisfaction, positive affect, school belonging, and victimization).
We use data from Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 (N = 451,846 students, 58 countries).
We utilize a series of multilevel linear regressions (L1 = students, L2 = schools, L3 = countries) to examine associations between intercultural factors and students' psychosocial outcomes.
Student-reported intercultural education practies positively predicted their eudaimonia, life satisfaction, positive affect, and school belonging. Student-reported teacher intercultural attitudes positively predicted students' belonging and negatively predicted their frequency of victimization. Principal- and teacher-reported predictors showed negligible effects. Results were largely similar across student immigrant status and generalized across the countries examined.
Our findings emphasize students' subjective experiences of intercultural factors at school, which may benefit students’ psychosocial outcomes regardless of their cultural backgrounds.
Teachers' Structuring of Culturally Responsive Social Relations and Secondary Students’ Experience of Warm Demand
2024, Contemporary Educational Psychology
Students who experience teacher warm demand (i.e., caring and high expectations) are typically more engaged and successful at school. Yet, relative to White students, students of color tend to report more distant relationships with their White teachers. Leveraging data from 179 6th–9th grade Measures of Effective Teaching project classroom videos, we tested whether teachers’ facilitation of culturally responsive social relations was associated with higher warm demand, and whether these social relations moderated associations between race and warm demand. Results showed that teachers’ promotion of culturally responsive social relations was associated with warm demand, and that this was magnified for White teachers in relation to their discipline practices. Findings suggest that taking a culturally responsive approach to facilitating classroom social relations is critical for teachers seeking to improve students’ experiences of warm demand.
Teachers’ interactive cognitions in noticed classroom management events: Does experience matter?
2023, Teaching and Teacher Education
This study explored preservice (n = 21), beginning (n = 17), and experienced (n = 19) teachers' interactive cognitions accompanying classroom management events they noticed during teaching. Stimulated-recall interviews based on actor-perspective teaching videos (including teachers' hand signals during teaching) captured teachers' verbal reports of interactive cognitions. Content analysis of these verbal reports using a multi-dimensional coding scheme and qualitative network analysis elicited similar patterns in structure and content of interactive cognitions, with minor nuances across teacher groups but considerable differences among individual teachers. Findings emphasize the value of investigating cognitions of one's own teaching practices and the need for teacher training programs to attend to individual differences.
Children's Perspectives on Fairness and Inclusivity in the Classroom
2022, Spanish Journal of Psychology
Reflecting on decades of teacher expectations and teacher effectiveness research: considerations for current and future research
2024, Educational Psychologist

View all citing articles on Scopus

View full text

How does teacher bias influence students?: An introduction to the special issue on teachers’ implicit attitudes, instructional practices, and student outcomes

Highlights

Abstract

Section snippets

Teacher bias and attitudes

Influence of implicit bias and attitudes on students

The study of teacher implicit bias and attitudes in context: the special issue

Author statement

Economics of Education Review

Journal of School Psychology

Journal Of Experimental Social Psychology

Learning and Instruction

Black girls and school discipline: The complexities of being overrepresented and understudied

Urban Education

Developing the research basis for controlling bias in hiring

Journal of Social Issues

The implicit prejudiced attitudes of teachers: Relations to teacher expectations and the ethnic achievement gap

American Educational Research Journal

Multilevel exploration of factors contributing to the overrepresentation of black students in office disciplinary referrals

Journal of Educational Psychology

Research on the self-fulfilling prophecy and teacher expectations

Journal Of Educational Psychology

Racial differences in the effects of significant others on students' educational expectations

Sociology of Education

Bias in the air: A nationwide exploration of teachers' implicit racial attitudes, aggregate bias, and student outcomes

Educational Researcher

Educator bias is associated with racial disparities in student achievement and discipline

Teachers' expectations and sense of responsibility for student learning: The importance of race, class, and organizational habitus

Anthropology & Education Quarterly

Implicit bias in the courtroom

UCLa L. rev.

Teachers' perceptions and expectations and the Black-White test score gap

Urban Education

Implicit bias in healthcare professionals: A systematic review

BMC Medical Ethics

Educational psychology: Using insights from implicit attitude measures

Educational Psychology Review