SIMPLE AWARENESS OR ACTIONABLE IMPACT? A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION IMPLICIT BIAS TRAINING

This phenomenological study explored teachers’ perceptions and examined the impact of implicit bias training conducted by the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) Office of Equity and Access on teachers’ instructional practices and expectations for student learning. Participants were teachers in the NYCDOE who took part in implicit bias training between 2018 and June 2022. Methods included participant interviews and document analysis. The theoretical/conceptual framework for this study considered educational values and organizational sensemaking as the lens for analyzing the shift in the New York City Department of Education to an Equity and Excellence agenda, with a specific focus on how teachers made sense of this shift and the implicit bias training as it relates to their instructional practice and beliefs about student learning. This study began to investigate the potential impact of this training, both prior to the COVID-19 pandemic when training was in-person, and in its virtual mode due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings indicate that participants had an increased awareness of implicit bias and acknowledge the need for implicit bias training but felt that the training itself was not enough for them to feel confident in how to mitigate the effects of implicit bias. Further analysis of the data around the impact on instructional practice found that there have not yet been significant shifts in teacher pedagogy. A qualitative study with a larger sample size should be considered for future research