TC's Oyler in Chalkbeat Story | Teachers College Columbia University

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TC's Oyler in Chalkbeat Story on Bias in "Gifted" and "Disabled" Designations

Celia Oyler, Professor of Education
Celia Oyler, Professor of Education
In a Chalkbeat New York story, TC's Celia Oyler says racial bias among educators may play a larger role than previously understood in deciding whether students are referred for special education or gifted programs, according to new research from NYU.

Oyler, who has done substantial research on racial bias in schools, says in Chalkbeat New York that the NYU study results are a "really, really good way" to understand and describe one way in which implicit bias occurs when students are referred to gifted or special education programs.

But "Oyler is careful to point out that the findings don’t suggest teachers should be branded as racists; there are larger institutional factors at play that enable implicit bias," the story reports.

“'What is wrong with our system that we continue to sort and label kids at both ends of the imagined bell curve,' she asks, 'and then give them different kinds of educational opportunities based on what we perceive them to be?'”

Click here to read story.

Published Friday, Oct 21, 2016