Research-Practice Webinar, February 1, 2024 | Sidelining bias in schools

Dr. Jason Okonofua on everyday forces of implicit bias

Dr. Jason Okonofua on the drawbacks of traditional antibias training

Dr. Jason Okonofua on integrative antibias

About the webinar

  • Thursday, February 1, 2024, 3:30–4:30 pm

  • Free and open to the public

Sidelining bias in schools: The power of the situation

It has become common practice to conceptualize bias as an automatic response, cultivated through exposure to bias in society. From this perspective, combating bias requires reducing a proclivity for bias within individuals, as in many implicit-bias training efforts common in schools and corporations. We introduce an alternative approach that begins with the presumption that people are inherently complex, with multiple, often contradictory, selves and goals. When the person is conceptualized this way, it is possible to ask when biased selves are likely to emerge and whether this bias can be sidelined—that is, whether situations can be altered in potent ways that elevate alternative selves and goals that people will endorse and for which bias would be nonfunctional. Using both classic and contemporary examples, we show how sidelining bias has led to meaningful improvements in real-world outcomes, reduced school suspensions.

Speakers

Jason Okonofua headshot

Jason Okonofua

Assistant Professor, UC Berkeley Psychology

Kenya Williams headshot

Kenya Williams

Principal, Culver City Middle School

Logo of Met Sacramento High School

Erácleo Guevara

Principal, Met Sacramento High School

Jabari Mahiri headshot

Jabari Mahiri

Professor, Berkeley School of Education; Chair, 21CSLA Leadership Board (Facilitator)

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