Anti-Black bias is an important focal point in the discussion of the root causes of educational inequality. Much of the emerging bias research focuses on how teachers interact with students of color. Yet less is known about how anti-black bias plays out at a larger scale within a community. Do rates of community bias translate into achievement disparities between Black and White students? Danielle explores the research that Dr. Francis A. Pearman, Assistant Professor of Education in Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education, presented to the SDP network.

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“Achievement gap discourse (AGD)” has driven conversations about race in education for the past several decades and has drawn criticism for its central metaphor. While a desire to understand and address educational inequality spawned conversations of the so-called achievement gap, scholars like pedagogical theorist and teacher educator Gloria Ladson-Billings point out that AGD “constructs students as defective and lacking” and “admonishes them to catch up.” Thus, even before seeking solutions to address racial bias in schools, many are left wondering how to discuss the issue in the first place. Danielle explores USC researcher David Quinn’s experimental evidence that news stories about the “achievement gap” contribute to stereotypes regarding academics and race.

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