Teaching for Equity and Justice: Methods and Best Practices of Effective Anti-bias Educators

Abstract

This study is the result of the researcher’s 25-year tenure in public education. That tenure developed a passion for disrupting racism and modeling social justice pedagogies to dismantle the barriers to educational equity in classrooms. The researcher wants to enact a vision of denouncing oppressive structures for students by positioning teachers to play a critical role in transforming society. The researcher contextualizes multicultural education, critical race theory, and social justice education to develop an overview of anti-bias teaching. Moreover, the researcher suggests the theoretical frames from multicultural education, critical race theory, and social justice education represent the underpinnings of anti-bias education.

Prejudice, bias, and stereotypes continue to exist in schools. For this reason, multicultural education and social justice education equip teachers with the strategies to recognize prejudice, bias, and stereotypes that create barriers to equitable education. This study will add to the growing field of educational research for equity-oriented teaching practices so school systems have the tools to dismantle inequities. The researcher’s study focuses on equity-centered approach through anti-bias teaching patterns of the 2016 Teaching Tolerance award-winning teachers.

What are the best practices and skills necessary for an anti-bias classroom setting? A study of the identified anti-bias 2016 award-winning educators from Teaching Tolerance program are the subjects of this research. The researcher’s goal is to identify patterns of teaching, and then compare these practices to Marilyn Cochran-Smith’s Six Principles of Social Justice. The outcome of the research will add to the growing educational equity work and provide teachers support needed to act in their classrooms for anti-bias education. Educators can transform and provide equitable teaching and learning for all students.

The design of the work is the case study. The researcher chose case study research because it allows the researcher to ask how and why questions. For the investigation, the case study method is the best fit for data collection and analysis. Moreover, case study design allows for description and narration in the research. This format will allow the reader to immerse him/herself in the lives of the teachers so they gain a better understanding of anti-bias educators.