What was the speaker’s main message?

Tangie Scales shared her research from her doctoral dissertation outlining the disparity in suspensions of black boy students compared to other demographics. She defined and shared what implicit bias is and how we can educate ourselves to avoid making immediate decisions that might not be in the best interest of students.

What were the best quotes? 

“Really knowing what’s best for local community has to start with getting to know that community… not just listening to respond but listening to understand.”

I appreciated the share out opportunities during the session and found one participant’s words to be incredibly relevant. “When a student arrives in front of you, that’s only 50 percent of the student. You don’t know the whole story so check yourself and your bias.”

What is one strategy that you will implement immediately? 

I liked the idea of forming an equity task force that includes staff and community members. This helps to protect from some of the implicit bias by having a system and team to have courageous conversations about diversity and equity.

What is one strategy that will help you with instructional leadership? 

I will be sharing with my staff what I learned in this session. Specifically, I think it’s crucial to identify behaviors and have staff share and understand that some behaviors have cultural differences and not necessarily needing disciplinary action. For example: It’s common for boys to rough house or horse play at recess or on the playground. However, implicit bias can reveal horse play as aggression or fighting when it occurs between black boys. By having vulnerable and honest conversations about scenarios such as this, it provides the opportunity for teachers to be:

• More self-aware of unintentional bias; and
•  Educates for the need to not issue reactive referrals.

What is one idea that you want to learn more about? 

I’m interested in researching more about restorative practices as a more successful method of discipline. Suspension rates are high. We are expected to follow the code of discipline, but the overidentifying of black males for discipline could be addressed by educating staff and providing training on best practices for addressing behavior that doesn’t result in suspension.

What are resources you will check out? 

I will be researching professional development videos to share with staff that explains bias we might unknowingly have and how this affects the educational and social outcomes of the students in our classes.

What are some relevant or surprising stats you learned? 

Black boys are significantly more likely to receive referrals for disruptive behavior, excessive noise, and disrespect than their white peers. 

Anna Claire Parker is principal of Horn Lake Intermediate School in Horn Lake, Mississippi.

Read more session notes in the NAESP Conference Blog.