The Implementation of Anti-Bias Education in K-12 Public Schools

As the American student body becomes more diverse, the capacity for children of all backgrounds to see the worth within different facets of their own identity and to navigate relationships with others across lines of difference are becoming increasingly important skills and mindsets. A body of research demonstrates that teaching students explicitly about issues of identity, diversity, equity, and bias can lead to positive academic, attitudinal, and behavioral outcomes. Yet, there is little research on whether and how educators across the nation engage in such instruction. Moreover, although teachers likely need an array of supports to engage in such instruction, we have little information on the types of supports that teachers need most or how the provision of these supports are associated with teachers' instructional practice.

This research presents the first national understanding of teachers' implementation of anti-bias education (ABE), an approach to education that prioritizes students' positive social identity formation, ability to interact comfortably and empathetically with diverse groups, understanding of bias and systemic inequities, and capacity to act against injustice, bias, and discrimination. Using survey data drawn from nationally representative samples of K-12 public school teachers, I explore the prevalence of ABE across the nation, the approaches and instructional materials that teachers use to provide ABE, teachers' perceptions about ABE's impacts on students' learning experiences, and ways that policymakers and education leaders can support teachers' provision of ABE. I pair my survey data with an in-depth case study of how one school created a system of supports to implement the tenets of ABE, thus providing other schools and school systems with an illustrative model for what the systematic implementation of ABE could look like.

The results of this research will provide policymakers, curriculum developers, school and school system leaders, and teachers with an evidence base on the state of ABE in the United States. My findings contribute to research on best practices such that these stakeholder groups will be equipped with more knowledge on how to enhance the provision of high-quality ABE.