Education Week - March 15, 2023 - 17

What Principals Can Do
About School Bias
Does your staff have the right tools?
By Sharif El-Mekki
I
t's 8:45 a.m. on a Tuesday. Do you know where
your school's culture is on the continuum of
cultural proficiency? Is it trending toward
proficiency or cultural destructiveness? Where
and how might your students and their families
be experiencing racial biases right now in your
school?
That's a question most any school leader should be able
to answer, but precious few actually can.
The challenge of addressing racial bias-both implicit
and explicit-in classrooms has long concerned education
leaders, researchers, and advocates. And rightly so. Racial
bias injures children, reduces their academic and social
trajectory, and reinforces the most pernicious elements
of systemic injustice. But it's mighty challenging work to
unearth that bias and take steps to ameliorate it.
A study published last year by researchers at Washington
University in St. Louis and Johns Hopkins University found
that bias can be found in the most subtle of school locations:
the very language that teachers use in talking about their
students. The study found that negative views of Black
children " were part of a culture of coded racial stereotypes "
that then drive disproportionality in the discipline of Black
students.
This study gives further evidence of what other researchers
have found: Teacher bias is a major barrier to academic and
social success for Black children. Research shows that the bias
students experience starts in preschool and compounds in
later grades, resulting in higher rates of academic failure and
incarceration for Black students.
But how do we take combating this bias from merely a
cause célèbre to something that is actually built into the
who, how, and why of teaching, leadership, and school
organization?
Part of the challenge is fully uncovering the extent of
this bias. Psychologist Beverly Daniel Tatum, an expert on
race relations, characterizes the disinformation of bias as
an invisible " smog, " impossible to see but pervasive and
injurious to all who breathe it.
Leaders must be proactive, by stating publicly that
taking on bias is your personal priority and your school's.
Acknowledge that you, too, have your own bias to
interrogate, that you, too, breathe the " smog, " but you are
here to look at that bias honestly in partnership with staff,
students, and families. Taking personal responsibility as
a leader is a prerequisite to collaboratively addressing the
damage of bias in schools.
Approaching the problem with openness and curiosity
is also essential. Just as important is to center the
inquiry on the student experience. Leadership teams
should strive to understand how families experience the
school community, their leadership, and the practice of
educators. They must also take stock of which classrooms
make students feel the most challenged and supported
and which make students feel the most put down.
Leaders can and should model this inquiry-based
approach, demonstrating to their staff and leadership
teams that " we're all learners. " An ethic of care is
essential for anyone to succeed as an educator. Begin with
self-examination and reflecting on how others experience
your leadership, your teaching, your partnership, your
colleagueship are all steps in the right direction.
To take action on this work, leaders must leverage the
tools of the system to uncover, understand, and unwind
bias. At my previous school, we found that wellfacilitated
professional learning communities could
be fruitful venues for analyzing how race, class, power,
and privilege play out in our school's data. PLCs are well
situated to look at inputs and outcomes to understand the
system effects of bias, including in areas like disciplinary
referrals, formative assessments, family engagement,
and classroom management.
Once leaders and their staffs establish a shared
understanding, they are better positioned to collaborate
in the work of unwinding bias in practice. Seeing the
challenge as a shared problem and an opportunity
builds buy-in, takes the focus off individual failure, and
reorients the effort toward progress over perfection. This
is extraordinarily important because missteps are all but
inevitable. However, the messy but sustained process
to combat bias exemplifies so much of what being an
educator is-and so much of what teaching and learning
looks like in the real world of the classroom.
Admitting you have a problem, as always, is the first
step in addressing racial bias in the classroom. It's not
enough for leaders to say and know it; they must support
their educators in a journey of self-examination of the
" smog " of bias around themselves and their teaching
practice.
Biased mindsets are deeply embedded, so unearthing
them can be a painful process. It is the responsibility and
obligation of a good school leader to ensure educators
have the tools and support they need.
It's time to get to it.
EL-MEKKI, a former principal and teacher, is the founder
of the Center for Black Educator Development.
The Principal Is In In this biweekly column,
principals and other authorities on school
leadership offer timely and timeless advice
for their peers. Interested in contributing?
Email AskAPrincipal@educationweek.org.
EDUCATION WEEK | March 15, 2023 | www.edweek.org/opinion | 17
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Education Week - March 15, 2023

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