School of Education DEI Resources Guide

As the racial/ethnic makeup of the U.S. student population becomes increasingly diverse, the teaching force has remained primarily white. Given this mismatch, and the consequences that educators’ racial attitudes have for students’ academic and developmental outcomes, it is important to understand the racial attitudes of white educators and how those attitudes differ from those of racially minoritized Americans. Using nationally representative data from 1975–2016, we find that compared with racially minoritized respondents, white educators are less supportive of government equalizing efforts, hold more negative racial stereotypes of African Americans, and express more social distance from minoritized groups. Through future research, we must develop a greater understanding of how these attitudes manifest in the classroom to affect students and how problematic attitudes of educators can be improved.

Perfectionism is commonly associated with gifted females, yet little research examines perfectionism across racial groups. Although gifted Black girls’ perfectionistic tendencies mirror other females, they experience perfectionism uniquely at the intersection of race and gender. Perfectionism can contribute to gifted Black girls’ desire to exceed academic expectations and guidelines, but emotional distress can arise when compounded by stereotype threat. This article will highlight ways perfectionism can be psychologically distressing to gifted Black females in the K-12 setting, and how perfectionism and stereotype threat affect achievement, emotional well-being, and motivation of gifted Black girls. Finally, this article concludes with promising practices for educators in the K-12 setting who work with gifted Black girls.

Given the recent stage of research on microaggressions, the study is an attempt to better understand the experience of microaggressions and examine it from the point of view of different marginalized minority identities. The purpose of this paper is to report on the subjective experience of microaggressions from the lenses of gender, race, religion and sexual orientation.

Design/methodology/approach
To explore how microaggressions are experienced by different identities, the authors conducted four focus group studies with university students at a prominent Midwestern university. Each focus group focused on the experience of microaggressions for a particular identity group.

..."we've compiled a list of books, films and podcasts about systemic racism, acknowledging that they are just books, films and podcasts. You'll find research on how racism permeates everything from the criminal justice system to health care. We hope you spend some time with these resources (and that you listen to Code Switch — here's a list of episodes to get you started). Information is power — you decide what you do with it."

Groundbreaking 1989 essay by Peggy McIntosh who lists the ways she’s beginning to recognize the way white privilege operates in her life.

Peggy McIntosh, Associate Director of the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, describes white privilege as “an invisible package of unearned assets, which I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was ‘meant’ to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, code books, visas, clothes, tools, and blank checks” (McIntosh, 1989).
This checklist has examples of ways white individuals have privilege because they are white. Please read the list and place a check next to the privileges that apply to you or that you have encountered. At the end, try to list at least two more was you have privilege based on your race.