Tag: race

RTRL.59: Race-based Microaggressions Experienced by Black Girls In Relation to Their Hair (Essien & Wood, 2020)

Source:

Essien, I., & Wood, J. L. (2020). I love my hair: The weaponizing of Black girls hair by educators in early childhood education. Early Childhood Education Journal, 49(3), 401-412.

What did the researchers want to know?

What race-based microaggressions are experienced by Black girls, specifically in relation to their hair?

What did the researchers do?

Essien and Wood surveyed 44 parents of Black/African American girls in early childhood education (preschool through third grade) “to share their perspectives on their experiences and perceptions of how Black girls were engaged in early learning, with particular regard to their hair” (p. 405). Parents were provided with definitions and examples of microaggressions* and were then asked to provided open-ended descriptions of up to five relevant instances of gender-based microaggressions related to their daughters’ hair. Essien and Wood coded the parent responses to identify salient themes.

  • *Microaggressions are defined by Sue (2010) as “the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership” (p. 3).
  • Sue, D. W. (2010). Microaggressions, marginality, and oppression: An introduction. In D. W. Sue (Ed.), Microaggressions and marginality: Manifestation, dynamics, and impact (pp. 3-22). John Wiley and Sons.

What did the researchers find?

Analysis of parent responses revealed two primary ways in which Black girls experienced microaggressions related to their hair: second-class hair and a presumption of defilement. 

The first theme relates to peers’ and educators’ perceptions of Black girls’ hair as “lesser than.” “Parents reported that teachers and students extended negative comments about Black hair,” which tended to be “most common whenever hair was worn naturally” (p. 407). “Overall, the comments demonstrated that teachers perceived natural hair as nonstandard, unbeautiful, and not well-maintained” (p. 407). One parent described an incident in which her child’s teacher would put barrettes or rubber bands in her daughter’s hair because the teacher perceived the girl’s Afro as unkept. Parents also described instances of “normative assumptions about hairstyles” being communicated by their daughters’ peers. One parent recalled that her daughter was teased so much in her first week of kindergarten for wearing her hair in two puff balls that she didn’t want to wear her hair that way anymore.

The second theme relates to the assumption that Black girls’ hair is unclean. “The most pervasive connotation was that Black girls’ hair was inherently dirty” (p. 408). One parent described an example in which their kindergarten daughter was repeatedly sent to the office to be checked for lice because her hair had been styled in the same Marley braids for multiple weeks at a time. The parent recalled, “This became a recurring event, and when I asked if these checks were a regular thing for all kids, the answer was no. The nurse, unaware of the dry scalp my daughter has, repeatedly sent my daughter home claiming she had nits in her hair so she must have lice…. I finally had to go to the doctor with my daughter for an exam by the pediatrician to determine she did not in fact have lice. The missed days for nonexistent lice had an impact on my daughter’s attendance” (p. 408). Many parents also felt that teachers’ responses to their daughters being teased for “dirty” hair were unsatisfactory. “Concerns about Black mistreatment being dismissed or ignored was apparent across this theme” (p. 408).

What does this mean for my classroom?

Children need a school environment in which they feel emotionally safe and can form positive relationships. The findings of this study suggest that many Black girls experience race-based microaggressions related to their hair that may hinder their feelings of safety and relationships with teachers and peers. Teachers should be aware of the ways in which their words may send messages to Black girls about their hair, including comments about natural hairstyles (e.g., Afro, twists) that may be perceived as negative. Similarly, complimenting Black girls when their hairstyle is more aligned with European beauty standards (e.g., permed, straightened, less coiled) can also send negative messages. Additionally, teachers should be aware that negative messages about Black hair are “further reinforced by a lack of response to teasing” (p. 409).

To help educators improve the experiences of Black girls in relation to their hair, Essien and Wood suggest the acronym HAIR: Hone, Affirm, Intervene, Refrain.

  • HONE “understanding of Black hair by learning what symptoms of dry scalp look like” (p. 410).
  • AFFIRM the beauty of black hair. “Given the ubiquitous social perceptions of Black hair that are negative, it is necessary for educators to affirm the beauty of Black hair as a counter-messaging effort” (p. 410), particularly when worn in natural styles.
  • INTERVENE when Black girls are being teased for their hair. “Educators should consider negative messages about hair to be hair harassment, or bullying, and should respond to these issues with an appropriate level of intervention and consequence for perpetrators of these messages” (p. 410).
  • REFRAIN from touching, manipulating, or redoing Black children’s hair.

RTRL.54: Can Empathy Reduce Implicit Bias? (Whitford & Emerson, 2019)

Source:

Whitford, D. K., Emerson, A. M. (2019). Empathy intervention to reduce implicit bias in pre-service teachers. Psychological Reports, 122(2), 670-688.

What did the researchers want to know?

Can a brief intervention designed to solicit empathy for Black individuals reduce implicit bias among white preservice teachers?

What did the researchers do?

Whitford and Emerson randomly assigned 34 white preservice teachers to two groups, both of which completed the Race Implicit Association Test as a measure of their implicit bias at the beginning of the study. Next, each group was asked to read either the experimental or control group passage, type their thoughts and feelings for 10 minutes after reading, and then complete the Implicit Association Test again. Participants in the control group read an article about integrating technology into elementary science lessons and were asked to write about how this made them feel, what they liked about it, and how they might improve the lessons. Participants in the experimental group read descriptions of 10 personal experiences of explicit racism from Black student peers, and they were asked to imagine themselves in the Black students’ situations and write about how this made them feel, how they would have reacted, and how these experiences might be prevented.

What did the researchers find?

Although the two groups did not differ on their Implicit Association Test scores before the intervention, there was a statistically significant difference between the groups’ post-intervention scores. Possible scores range from -2.0 to 2.0, with scores closer to zero indicating  less bias. While the control group mean only went from 0.53 to 0.47, the experimental group mean went from 0.57 to 0.18, indicating significantly less implicit bias after the intervention. 

What does this mean for my classroom?

Whitford and Emerson’s results suggest experiences soliciting empathy can be effective in reducing negative bias toward Black individuals. Specifically, White teachers who consider and empathize with Black students’ experiences with explicit racism may show less bias toward Black students, thereby reducing discriminatory discipline. Okonofua and Eberhardt found in this study that teachers responded more harshly to behavior infractions committed by students with Black-sounding names than with White-sounding names. However, according to Whitford and Emerson, “our results indicate that teacher training aimed at racial consciousness, and personal awareness of implicit bias holds promise for promoting empathy within the education workforce” (p. 680). Similarly, Okonofua, Paunesku, and Walton found in this study that teachers who take an empathic mindset punish students less severely and that their students have greater respect for them and are more motivated to behave well in the future. As Whitford and Emerson state, “School discipline inequality is one of the major contributors to the prison pipe-line for at-risk children and adolescents, but it does not have to be” (p. 682). Empathy interventions can be one effective strategy for turning the tide.

E01.10: An Impromptu Episode

In this episode, I reflect a bit about recent events and share some thoughts on what we can do as music educators and MLT practitioners.

E01.10: An Impromptu Episode

Mentioned in this episode:

Support the podcast by becoming a patron on Patreon!

Host: Heather Nelson Shouldice

Sponsors: GIA Publications, Inc., Gordon Institute for Music Learning

Podcast Cover Art: Tyler Nordstrom

Intro/Outro Music: Heather Nelson Shouldice

If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, email them to everydaymusicality@gmail.com!

RTRL.43: Race and Perceptions of Student Misbehavior (Okonofua & Eberhardt, 2015)

Source:

Okonofua, J. A., & Eberhardt, J. L. (2015). Two strikes: Race and the disciplining of young students. Psychological Science, 26(5), 617-624.

What did the researchers want to know?

Does race influence teachers’ perceptions of student misbehavior?

What did the researchers do?

Okonofua and Eberhardt conducted two related studies.

Study #1:

The researchers recruited 57 K-12 teachers (38 white, 2 black, 1 Asian, 16 of unknown race) from various school districts across the United States. They showed each teacher a school record for a middle school student who had misbehaved twice, asking them to imagine they were the student’s teacher. The student was assigned either a stereotypically Black name (Darnell or Deshawn) or a stereotypically White name (Greg or Jake). After reading about each of the student’s two behavior infractions (one for insubordination and one for class disturbance), the teacher was asked to answer the following questions on a scale ranging from 1, not at all, to 7, extremely:

  • How severe was the student’s misbehavior?
  • To what extent is the student hindering you from maintaining order in your class?
  • How irritated do you feel by the student?
  • How severely should the student be disciplined?

The order of the two infractions (class disturbance/insubordination) varied randomly across participants to mitigate order effect. After reading and responding to both infractions, the teacher was asked to rate the likelihood they would say the student is a troublemaker. Finally, they asked how likely it was that the student was Black and what they suspected was the study’s hypothesis. (These final questions were used to identify any participants who may have been manipulating their responses based on their assumptions about the study’s hypothesis.) 

Study #2:

The first study was replicated with 204 more K-12 teachers (166 White, 17 Black, 10 Asian, 6 Latino, 2 other, 3 unknown) with an addition: After teachers rated the likelihood they would say the student was a troublemaker, they were also prompted to rate the extent to which they felt the student’s behaviors indicated a pattern and the likelihood they would imagine suspending the student at some point.

What did the researchers find?

Study #1:

Although teachers’ ratings of infraction severity, hindrance, and irritation did not vary by race in reaction to the first infraction, there was a statistically significant difference by race for the second infraction, with teachers rating students with stereotypically Black names more harshly than students with stereotypically White names. Similarly, teachers felt the students with stereotypically Black names should be disciplined more severely after the second infraction than students with stereotypically White names. “Thus, after only two strikes, racial disparities in discipline emerge” (p. 620). Furthermore, “the more likely teachers were to think the student was Black … the more likely they were to label the student a troublemaker” (p. 620).

Study #2:

Again, teachers’ ratings after the second infraction revealed perceptions that the misbehavior was more severe, more irritating, and more of a hindrance and warranted more severe discipline when the student had a stereotypically Black name. In addition, “the more likely the teachers were to think the student was Black, the more likely they were to label the student a troublemaker” (p. 621) and “the more likely they were to imagine themselves suspending that student in the future” (p. 622).

What does this mean for my classroom?

Though many studies and statistics show Black students are disciplined at higher rates and/or with greater severity, most only show a correlation. However, the findings of this study show a direct causal relationship between race and perceptions of misbehavior. According to Okonofua and Eberhardt, “what we have shown here is that racial disparities in discipline can occur even when Black and White students behave in the same manner. We have shown experimentally, for the first time, that teacher responses can contribute to racial disparities in discipline” (p. 622).

Since teaching is a helping profession, it can be assumed most teachers choose their career out of a desire to help others and make a difference. Like the teachers who participated in this study, though, none of us are immune to implicit bias. All educators must work to heighten awareness of their own implicit biases to help ensure all students are treated fairly and have equal opportunities for success.

Resources

This document has lots of helpful information and links to free resources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PrAq4iBNb4nVIcTsLcNlW8zjaQXBLkWayL8EaPlh0bc/mobilebasic

If you want to become more race-conscious, here are some great books:

In memory of George Floyd and far too many others.