Implicit Bias in Early Childhood

Why do we need to talk about implicit bias in early childhood?

Because it exists.  Racial disparities in suspensions and interactions with young children are present in early childhood environments.

In 2016, researchers from Yale University used eye-tracking technology and conducted a test with two different tasks.  During the test participants watched a video and indicated if they saw a potential behavior problem – the video, however, did not contain any challenging behaviors.  The eye-tracking software monitored the eye gazes (who they were looking at) of the participants.

Which students are the teachers watching?

Black boys – 42%

White boys – 34%

White girls – 13%

Black girls – 10%

When expecting challenging behaviors, preschool teachers were more likely to closely observe blacks than whites, especially black boys.