Science versus the Unconscious Bias Paradigm in Education: A Review Essay

Abstract

ABSTRACT Popular ideas often spread like wildfire among higher education curricula within teacher preparation programs, which leads to the hasty promotion of constructs that are both bereft of empirical support and singularly responsible for profoundly negative consequences in schools. The concept of ‘Unconscious Racial Bias’ is a notable example of this destructive trend in the teacher education literature. This essay reviews a recent book on Unconscious Racial Bias entitled ‘Unconscious Bias in Schools: A Developmental Approach to Exploring Race and Racism’ by Tracey A. Benson and Sarah E. Fiarman. The book purports to provide teacher preservice and inservice trainers with a blueprint for conducting unconscious bias training for (primarily white) teachers in schools that have significant racial minority populations. The philosophical roots of Unconscious Race Bias (URB) theory is discussed, followed by a discussion of a parallel movement in the social psychological literature on the Implicit Bias Test (IAT). IAT research is shown to suffer from serious psychometric problems, which in turn casts serious doubt on the validity of Unconscious Bias theory as an explanation for academic problems experienced by minority students in schools (that are presumably caused by unconscious bias in White teachers). The essay ends with suggestions for better resources that pre- and inservice teachers can consult for addressing educational problems of racial/ethnic minority students in schools.