Best Practices for Countering Implicit Bias in Education

- [Kenia] A childcare center starts a conversation about the impact of implicit bias, helping us to understand how teachers and parents play an important role, and ways to overcome it.

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- [Announcer] "Black Issues Forum" is a production of PBS North Carolina, with support from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.

[upbeat music] Quality public television is made possible through the financial contributions of viewers like you, who invite you to join them in supporting PBS NC.

[upbeat music] ♪ - Welcome to "Black Issues Forum".

I'm Kenia Thompson.

A new center is opening up in Durham, North Carolina, that addresses implicit bias head-on.

Kate's Korner Learning Center is creating a safe space for early education learners and teachers, offering a unique approach that creates a just and equitable experience for children, their families, and educators.

Take a look at a quick story behind Kate's why.

[low thoughtful music] - So in 1997, I was a director of a local childcare center, and we had a little African American boy named Courtland.

And he was full of life, and he met no stranger.

The thing was, Courtland was a very young advocate, and didn't like when other children were picked on or left out.

Now, all the children liked him until they decided to be mean to another classmate.

That's usually when they felt Courtland's presence, as he would hit, or kick, or punch to intervene in the injustice.

Teachers would immediately bring Courtland to my office, claiming he was too aggressive, he was being bad, or he was a constant disruption.

And then they would just leave him there.

And after I would calm him down from crying and ask what happened, his story was always about another child, what another child did to another child, and how it wasn't fair.

So why didn't the teacher take the time to ask what happened, like I did?

Why were they so quick to bring him to me?

And why did they describe his behavior so negatively without investigating?

This's what the world-renowned Yale researcher has identified as implicit bias in early childhood education.

Implicit bias is defined as the attitude or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner.

Implicit bias is the number-one cause of documented 50,000 children being expelled from early childhood programs each year.

Y'all, that's 10 times greater than school-aged children.

And these're two- to five-year-olds whose brain hasn't fully developed.

And I say documented 50,000, because only programs who receive government funding are required to report these numbers.

So Kate's Korner's why lives here.

We train and develop early childhood educators to know and understand their personal biases and how those biases impact their relationship and interactions with their students, specifically children of color, and more specifically African American boys.

Our curriculum is written to help build and make cultural competence a part of our goal and our culture.

Now, let's go back to Courtland.

Now, there's a few things that you should know about Courtland.

He came from a good home with a good mother, and a super-involved and super-present mother, and he was a sweet child outside of these incidents, always helping others, sharing with others, and encouraging teamwork.

And fast-forward 16 years and he's graduated from high school and gone to the 30th school in the nation, and he's just an amazing human being who is making me a proud grand love.

Yes, Courtland is mine.

- To talk more about Courtland and implicit bias, we welcome the owner of Kate's Korner and child advocate, Kate Goodwin.

Welcome to the show.

- Thank you, thank you.

- So I love the story.

I love the idea of you advocating for Courtland, who turns out to be your own child.

Let's talk a little bit about what you saw growing up, and what really made you want to do or create a space like Kate's Korner.

- Yeah, I think that in my 34 years that I've been doing early childhood, the story really never changes.

There's a lot of energy around how my own son, Andrew, shows up in the classroom as well as, you know, other children of color with a very, very biased view of what they will do before they do it, or why they do what they do when they do it.

And it was becoming a huge issue when they were bringing him to me.

This was the center that I was running.

So it should show that they didn't feel like there was anything wrong with having an identifiable label put on him before they got to know who he was.

So that's what I had seen with just him, personally.

And then of course, in my whole career, I spent a lot of energy around trying to get people to understand what implicit bias was.

- Yeah, so let's define it.

I know a lot of people like, "What is implicit bias?"

"What is implicit bias?"

- Well, you know the old adage, right?

That you judge a book by its cover.

There's really nothing different about that, except for that at the end, you make a decision.

And those decisions that're being made are playing huge roles in how a child is having availability to early childhood education.

So it's any form of bias that occurs automatically and unintentionally that nevertheless affects judgments, decisions, and behaviors.

And oftentimes when it happens, people will say, well they don't see it as a bias.

They don't see it as something that is out of the norm.

But it's because of programming, and that means it doesn't really matter how it shows up, it's because of the programming that we have as humans.

- Yeah, and to be clear, - Yeah.

- like you just said, it's a human thing.

It's not a race thing, it's not a gender thing, although it does impact certain races and genders more, right?

- Yes.

Yes, absolutely, absolutely.

- Yeah.

So you mentioned in the piece, in the story, you talked about cultural competence.

What does it mean to be culturally competent?

- Well, for me, I believe, like, there's an understanding and awareness of a child's culture, where the children come from, and the regions that they come from.

I mean, we're here in the United States.

It's a wonderful melting pot, as they would like to call it.

And I have children from all walks of life.

And in those cultures, there's things that are surrounded by what they wear, and what they eat, and how they speak, and the roles that they play gender-wise, et cetera.

There are a number of different cultural differences and when you get to know those cultural differences you're able to understand the child better especially in the environment that you're creating for them to learn from.

- Yeah, you've kind of shared a little bit but what specifically contributes to implicit bias and then what are some ways that we allow it to go unchecked day to day?

- Yeah, I think that we have to have that hard conversation that people do not wanna have.

But the conversation comes from the way the United States was created.

It comes from the biases that we have been consistently you know, operated off of since slavery.

And, when it comes, you know the stereotypes are so heavy because I feel like stereotypes keeps us separate.

It doesn't bring us together.

And if I have an implicit bias towards you and I don't know you, I make a lot of assumptions and I treat and create the way that I'm going to treat you from what I don't know.

And I feel like, you know, that is an ongoing issue with just obtaining the knowledge of another individual another culture, an understanding of how I can make things better for them.

And we as educators have that responsibility to do so.

- Yeah, I wanna kind of make it clear for the audience so that they can understand what's a a real life example of implicit bias.

I know you've shared the story with me before.

You had monitored a young child using his hands to eat food.

- Oh, yeah.

- You wanna share that story?

- Absolutely.

In California when I first moved there as a director, we had a child from Pakistan that came and their family had traditions on the way that they ate, the diet itself.

So the parents did not pack food and for days the baby would not eat.

And then finally, you know there was something that he was gonna try and he would not use the spoon he was eating with his hands but it took him a long time to get to that point where we just like, why won't he eat?

Well, the mom also would help him at home.

She would though that's not something independently he would do.

So until we understood what he was waiting for us to do to be able to help him those are the things that we weren't in knowledge of.

We just expected him to come into this classroom and do as our children have been doing, and using utensils or getting familiar with using utensils.

And for a very long time, that child was, I'm sure miserable because was hungry but did not know how to communicate as English wasn't his first language on how to get the food, to get the food off the plate.

So we figured that out.

But that was through communication with mom and understanding like what needed to happen at lunchtime to prepare him.

They also prayed over their food.

That was a huge piece that was missing for him.

So as children learn, they learn in repetitive behaviors.

And we had just kind of put him in an environment where none of those things were happening prior to his, you know, eating his lunch.

- Well, let's talk about, okay the person who's imposing the bias and the child who's experiencing the bias how does that show up?

You know, when we talk about being white versus being Black.

- I really want to say that it is different, but it's not.

I think that implicit bias is something, unfortunately that you experience from both whites and Blacks.

The intentionality around it is that, you know, for our community I call them to learn more about your community because it kind of shows up as a classism piece.

It shows up in a way that there's bias because his mom is on, you know, public assistance or it shows up in bias because there is not a, the dialect or what they use in their communication, there's different ways that we have biases in our own with African American people in our own children.

The way it shows up is just getting to know.

It is nothing more clear than getting to know who that family is.

And if you remember the high scope research which was done, those teachers went into the communities in which those children lived.

And that gave them a great understanding of their background and what they were proud of and what was a part of their culture that they could be, that they could encourage in the classroom.

They felt partnership with the parents.

And I think that's, so when we say, is it Black?

Is it a white thing?

It's absolutely, we know that there is explicit bias, right?

In our marginalized neighborhoods we experience it all the time with police brutality and other things that come about.

But this is the sneaky thing.

This is the, I'm not prejudice, but I feel like I need to give him extra time or pass him on because I don't want, I feel sorry for him.

That is an implicit bias.

There is no challenge in that.

And so that is the sneaky thing that gets into our education system where we get to a third grade and cannot read because there was not someone who felt the need to hold us accountable or help the child in that way and hold the family accountable for getting our children there.

- Yeah, wow.

When people say, I don't see color is that being honest, is that even recognizing that you carry biases and stereotypes?

- Oh, there's a bias.

It's not great to say that I don't see color.

This is one of the biggest things is that we teach people to see, hear, and nurture children.

And if you don't see them, you don't see who they are, you don't know who they are, then that is a problem.

So when people say they don't see color I know that that is seen as a, you know, like I don't wanna seem like I'm being biased but that means you don't celebrate the culture either.

That means what you don't see, you're not celebrating and you don't know and you don't understand.

So to say that I don't see color is totally the different of what we would like people to say is that I see you, I see you, I hear you, I know your struggle.

I know what, I don't know exactly all the things you need but I'll do all I can to work with you and your family to figure out what those needs are and work through that appropriately.

- Yeah, perfectly said.

You know, if you keep feeding, I always say if you keep feeding someone a narrative or affirmations of a stereotype, or examples of the reasons why they're not good or bad is it true that sometimes we'll start to be that, right?

If we keep feeding that narrative into our children?

- Yeah, programming, programming.

You know, we understand what our culture has gone through in the United States as far as programming and what's right and what's not.

And if you are a child and you go to a classroom every day and someone says that you're bad and I'm sure that you've kind of, with your two children I'm sure you've experienced this, right?

You go into a classroom and everyone can point out in that classroom which child is bad.

And they call it bad because they've heard the teacher say it a number of times.

That child has heard it so many times that they've placated into exactly what those labels are.

And so then everyone knows, and then now you have a child in a classroom that can't get over the behaviors that he had yesterday, because someone has deemed him one way or the other.

And that is programming every day that they hear it.

So by the time that there's an event at the center and everyone comes to see, everyone labels that child.

And unfortunately the parents who are lacking an understanding of how to advocate for them kind of go along with that and get defensive, but they don't work collectively to make that a different mantra for not only the educators to hear, but the children as well.

- Yeah, and then when we think about what we've seen in the media lately about police arrests, police murders, killings, that also perpetuates that narrative, not just on the child side, but on the person that's holding the bias as well.

- Absolutely.

Expulsion 250 children every day are expelled.

It is an adult decision.

It's an adult decision to say that this child does not fit in what I need them to fit in.

I take people back all the time and I say to them, the education system when built did not have how African American children or children of color learn.

And that is a cultural difference.

And because of that because we kept trying to put the square into the circle, we are always going to run up against those who were trained in the circle, to saying that you don't fit here and that you don't fit here becomes the mantra they hear until unfortunately they get to middle school and they're unwilling to go back into an environment that was never welcoming to them in the first place.

Yeah.

- Yeah.

Well we also know that the responsibility for change begins with each of us individually.

But it can feel overwhelming, it can be confusing.

And as a mom myself, sometimes I ask, how can I make this world easier for my two kids?

But it's hard to know how to start, where to start, Kate how do we know where to start and how to start with our kids?

- I think you've gotta be able to put yourself in a situation where you gain knowledge about who you are as a person and then who your children are.

There's great work being done.

I always bring this up 'cause I believe wholeheartedly in the Village of Wisdom and the Black Genius program that they promote, it helps educators.

I mean it helps educators, it helps parents specifically understand the genius in their children.

It helps them recognize it, it helps them cultivate it, it helps them be able to be able to be an advocate in the children's learning environment, regardless of whether that's an early childhood or in primary school.

And I think that if you begin to advocate and begin to know knowledge, then your children will start to feel very confident in who they are.

But I think the first step is getting to know who your children are, and what excellence comes with your children.

That's always, you know how I am it's always in knowing your history.

And knowing where you come from pre-slavery.

And understanding the excellence that runs through your veins, and then being able to pass that excellence communication on to your children so that they're strengthened and they understand from a very great perspective, an inward perspective of who they are, and it'll change how they show up in this room.

- I know that you've obviously taken action to create a center, create space for this, Kate's Corner Learning center, but we all can't open a school, right?

We could, but it just, we are not made for that.

Not everyone's made out for that.

But as parents, a lot of the viewers are, what can we do to interrupt the effects of implicit bias in our children?

- Yeah, I think that, well I'm a little older than you so I remember a lot of coming home and the teacher said, and the parents just kind of accepting what the teacher said.

I feel like being present, digging in a little bit, getting to know who's educating your children, that's a big part of that.

Building a relationship with that individual.

I feel like all biases kind of collapse once you get to know someone who sits on the other side of the table.

And then it becomes a community of individuals who are going toward the same goal for the success of the children.

And so I think that parents have to educate themselves about what's going on in the school systems.

They have to understand their advocacy for their own children, but also advocacy for children who may not have a parent who feels comfortable to speak up.

We have to remember that generationally, parents do not show up at school because they weren't welcome when they were there.

So you're not just dealing with that very family at that very moment in time, you might have mom and grandma who were turned away from school or expelled from school just because there was something different about the way they learned.

And so there's a mistrust that has to be built in our education system through getting to know families.

And I'm very excited about Kate's Corner being able to do home visits to be able to have times to be able to sit down and speak with the parents and the teachers and be able to work as a team together for the betterment of each child that's in our care.

- Yeah, so let's talk a little bit more about what's gonna happen in the classroom at Kate's Corner.

When we talk about disrupting implicit bias it starts with the teachers in this case.

And so how does your curriculum address that?

- Well, first I'll say that Kate's Corner is a lab school.

We are a part and product of how will we, the implementation of how do we make things work better so that we don't have 250 children being expelled.

So I am a co-founder of Truth Education Foundation along with Kate Jordan Downs.

And we are doing the research and development around the reasons and what comes up in an educator when we deal with implicit bias.

And what we've really figured out is that unfortunately this group of employment, the people I'm sorry, educators have been totally marginalized, not paid enough, and mistreated because they believed in the education system that early childhood is not such a huge thing, it starts at kindergarten.

Research has shown many years that that is not true.

But we've devalued our educators.

So the first thing we do is bring educators on and pay them the salary that they are due to be able to take care of our children who are with them the majority of the day, even more than they are with their parents.

And they go to school and get bachelor's degrees and master's degrees in early childhood education.

And so, really what we are doing is trying to redefine the important role that the educators have.

We have an empowerment model where our educators are able to go in and decide how they wanna implement the curriculum that we use.

We have a anti-biased framework that goes and lays over the curriculum that we are teaching, and that shows up in celebration of cultures, it shows up in just being heard, seen, and appreciated each day.

And there are a lot of things that we've kind of implemented, mantras in the morning, and meditation room that we are so super excited about, because sometimes, we forget as adults, children just need to acclimate themselves and be able to self-soothe.

So being able to provide a room that children can go to with an educator, we are potentially partnering with the Duke Occupational Therapy Department to do that in our centering room, which gives, I mean, if nothing else, that gives a educator and a student an opportunity for them to recenter and be able to go out and make great strides in their education journey.

- Yeah, I'm excited to see it come to fruition.

I can say I've had a sneak peek and it looks great.

So I'm excited to see it.

Let's talk a little bit more, before the show, I was doing some research, we realize that implicit bias impacts minority students, more specifically black and brown boys.

And so when we talk about representation in the classroom, seeing ourselves in the classroom, there really is a call for more minority teachers as well.

We need to see ourselves in the classroom to feel like we are seen and heard.

- Absolutely, I would love to recruit male educators to be that example to our children in the center.

It's not just good for our children to have an understanding, it also changes the mindset of children who may not be African-American, our white children or Asian children, they begin to break down biases and understanding of what that role as a male, a black male plays in society, that they're there and they're educating and they're nurturing them.

That plays a huge difference in a role of someone who's never had care or a relationship with a black male.

I think it begins to change that narrative for them as well.

- Couple minutes left in the show, let's talk about solutions.

If we see something wrong happening in the classroom, what do we do, who do we go to, what do we say?

- Yeah, I think that it's important to go to the individual.

And I think, my mother has always said, "You approach everything in love."

And I believe that it's identifying it and asking questions and getting down to a conversation of "How do we change it?"

Because what you also need to be able to do as a parent is say, "This affects my son in this way "or my daughter in this way, "and I'd like to have a conversation around it."

There's a number of ways that we can communicate to be able to help.

If we see it in an educator, being able to say, "This is what we need to change for our child," and bringing on that advocacy piece.

I'm very excited about a book called "Don't Look Away."

Dr. Iheoma Iruka wrote this book so that you could begin to understand and identify things that you see and embrace anti-biased classrooms, things that you see that you know, when you look in a room, there's no representation, there's no black baby dolls, there's no brown baby dolls, there is nothing that's in the room that replicates your child.

When we do learning through play, a lot of that is done in a situation where they're replicating what they see at home.

And if they're always caring for white babies or they're always seeing themselves, not seeing themselves in books, they don't believe themselves.

I don't know how many stories we've heard with people who have shared and expressed that I never saw myself in a book.

We very seldom ever see ourselves on television or in replication of what our environment is.

So I think there's many a ways, but really digging in and getting to know the individuals and what their needs are and calling it out when you see it.

- Yeah, and talking to our children about it too.

I think once we create that open conversation, it's an easier one to have at least.

Kate Goodwin, I thank you so much for being with us.

Thank you for the work that you're doing for our children, and all the best to you.

- All right, thank you.

- We invite you to engage with us on Instagram using the hashtag BlackIssuesForum.

You can also find our full episodes on pbsnc.org/blackissuesforum and on the PBS video app.

Thank you for watching.

I'm Kenia Thompson, I'll see you next time.

[upbeat music] ♪ ♪ - [Narrator] Black Issues Forum is a production of PBS North Carolina with support from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.

Quality Public Television is made possible through the financial contributions of viewers like you who invite you to join them in supporting PBS NC.