8 Evaluating Classroom Materials for Bias

One activity that pre-service teachers do in our classes, and that can also be done with their classroom materials and students, is to examine the materials used in their classes for bias; it could be racial bias, gendered bias, social class/income bias, abilities bias, religion bias, and so forth. We use the Nova Scotia Bias Evaluation Instrument with our students.

We assess curriculum documents, policies, and supplemental resources; the most fun resources are children’s (elementary age) books with their illustrations and fewer print words, and they are also often the easiest to use in the beginning when learning how to assess content for bias, because it’s often just so strikingly obvious in children’s books.