Equity & Diversity Report Roundup

School Diversity

By Sarah D. Sparks — August 29, 2017 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Educators show the same unconscious bias favoring white people as the general U.S. population and use slightly lower academic standards when evaluating black students, finds a new study in the latest issue of the British Journal of Educational Psychology.

Researchers from the University of Virginia’s Project Implicit, which studies unconscious biases and how they affect behavior, asked more than 600 mostly white education professionals how they would select students for a hypothetical honor society. The study was part of a 2015 Education Week series on bias in K-12 schools.

They found educators at all levels required lower academic standards when choosing black applicants for the honor society, as compared with white applicants. The bias held even for participants that reported they had no racial biases. That finding mirrors previous studies of how members of the general public evaluated black and white candidates.

A version of this article appeared in the August 30, 2017 edition of Education Week as School Diversity

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Assessment Webinar
Reflections on Evidence-Based Grading Practices: What We Learned for Next Year
Get real insights on evidence-based grading from K-12 leaders.
Content provided by Otus
Artificial Intelligence K-12 Essentials Forum How AI Use Is Expanding in K-12 Schools
Join this free virtual event to explore how AI technology is—and is not—improving K-12 teaching and learning.
Federal Webinar Navigating the Rapid Pace of Education Policy Change: Your Questions, Answered
Join this free webinar to gain an understanding of key education policy developments affecting K-12 schools.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Equity & Diversity N.Y. Public Schools Tell Trump Administration They Won't Comply With DEI Order
New York officials question whether the federal agency has the authority to make demands to end DEI practices in public schools.
2 min read
Children and their guardians leave P.S. 64 in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021, in New York.
Children and their guardians leave P.S. 64 in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021, in New York.
Brittainy Newman/AP
Equity & Diversity Opinion How Education Leaders Should Respond to the Anti-DEI Crowd
Decades of essential equity-based work is under threat in our schools today, warns Joshua P. Starr.
Joshua P. Starr
4 min read
202503 Opinion Starr DEI 2155439727
iStock/Getty Images
Equity & Diversity A Wave of New Legislation Aims to Ban DEI in Public Schools
State legislators have introduced measures that would prohibit schools from maintaining diversity, equity, and inclusion offices.
7 min read
Vector illustration concept of people being denied entrance, stopped at the door.
DigitalVision Vectors
Equity & Diversity Opinion ‘Diversity’ Isn’t a Dirty Word: Why Politicians Are Scapegoating DEI
The language may be new, but we’ve seen these same tactics used to attack racial equality for decades.
Janel George
5 min read
Flag of the USA, painted on grunge distressed planks of wood, signifying dismantling or building back up
Yamac Beyter/iStock