Unconscious Bias

LACOE is committed to moving forward with their equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives both to the LACOE staff and to the 80 school districts we serve in the Los Angeles Region.  In addition, the TEAL project also seeks to increase cultural equity and inclusion across the TEAL modules and training in alignment with implementation of the new LA County Regional Blueprint for Arts Education.  Some of the key values for this project includes access, cultural equity, a close look at unconscious bias, otherwise known as implicit bias, and the effects of that on inclusion and antiracism.  Unconscious bias (or implicit bias) describes the attitudes we have towards people or associate the stereotypes with them without our conscious knowledge. 

Our unconscious mind makes a majority of our decision.  It creates blind spots-unconscious biases that can narrow your vision and potentially influence your behaviors.  Check out this video series that breaks this all down. 

Harvard Ed Cast provides strategies for educators to counter their own unconscious biases in schools and classrooms.

This article teaches people to manage their biases, change their behavior, and track their progress.

Author, speaker and CEO, Valerie Alexander, explains how the human brain instinctively reacts when encountering the unexpected, and proposes that if we have the courage to examine our own behavior when faced with the unfamiliar, we can take control of our expectations. 

UCLA Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion provides a series of short Implicit Bias instructional videos 

This site provides a number of different assessments in recognizing your own implicit bias. 

Russell McClain examines the role of implicit bias and stereotype threat-the fear of confirming another's biased view- in creating achievement gaps in higher education.