The Effects of Online Anti-Bias Training on Educators’ Multicultural Competence

The student population in the United States is becoming increasingly diverse, but the educator base, including teachers and other school professionals, remains primarily White and female. Educators are encouraged (and at times required) to participate in professional development training to increase their multicultural competence. Although previous research has shown that educators benefit from professional development training in general, there is limited research into the benefit of online training intended to increase their multicultural competence. As agents of social justice, school psychologists may help other educators to reflect on and confront their biases. In this pilot study, 17 elementary educators (i.e., teachers and school professionals) completed an online training titled, “Critical Practices for Anti-Bias Education.” The participants completed the Multicultural Teaching Competency Scale to assess the effectiveness of the training. Results indicated a statistically significant increase between pretest and posttest scores. The participants also completed an adapted version of the Usage Rating Profile-Intervention Revised to assess the social validity of the training. Overall, the participants ranked the training as acceptable and feasible. This study supports the potential use of online anti-bias training as one of the first steps to increase elementary educators’ multicultural competence.