1D1. Exploring Implicit Bias in Education: Making Sense Together of Research and Practice

School districts across Iowa have been experiencing racial disparities in the rates that students are referred to special education, in discipline referrals, in academic achievement, and in the ways students experience school culture and climate. A relatively new understanding of an underlying cause of these historic and persistent disparities is “implicit bias.” We will organize a discussion about the potential that implicit biases impact two core factors of schooling: (1) discipline and (2) achievement. We will briefly share research on implicit bias overall and in each of these areas, stopping to engage in small-group dialogue throughout. We will close by very briefly offering insights into ways to overcome implicit bias individually and throughout organizations