Abstract
Researchers and educators have increasingly recognized the importance of classroom discussions about race and racism—race talk—for student development, yet teachers often face significant psychological barriers to engaging students in race talk. This research draws on two large samples of U.S. K-12 teachers to examine how teachers’ implicit racial biases and concerns about appearing racist may correspond with their intentions to engage and confidence about engaging students in race talk. Across both studies, teachers’ greater implicit racial bias predicted lower intentions to engage students in race talk, yet it did not predict their confidence about engaging students in race talk. By contrast, concern about appearing racist predicted both lower intentions and confidence about engaging students in race talk, above and beyond the contributions of implicit racial bias and other teacher- and school-related factors. These findings highlight the need to address both implicit biases and concerns about appearing racist in teacher training and professional development, in order to support teachers and enhance their capacity to engage students in race-related discussions.
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Funding for Study 2 was provided by the Raikes Foundation and the Schusterman Family Foundation, in partnership with Perception Institute.
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Linda Tropp conceived and designed both Study 1 and Study 2, and performed initial analysis for Study 1. Data collection for Study 2 and subsequent analyses were conducted by Christina Rucinski. Both authors contributed to writing and revising the manuscript.
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Both authors have served as research advisors for Perception Institute.
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The work presented in this paper was carried out in accordance with the APA ethical standards. All participants in our study provided their informed consent online and were granted the right to withdraw from the survey for any reason, without penalty.
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Tropp, L.R., Rucinski, C.L. How implicit racial bias and concern about appearing racist shape K-12 teachers’ race talk with students. Soc Psychol Educ 25, 697–717 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-022-09715-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-022-09715-5