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Student engagement, cultural identity and voice in school have been shown to have measurable influence on student learning. While many factors may affect student dispositions, teachers likely have the most direct impact on the dispositions related to classroom engagement and student voice. Measures of student perceptions of their teachers’ cultural engagement, cultural teaching practices and the students’ own engagement and voice in schooling are included in this paper. Data from 822 grade 3 – 12 students of teachers who participated in a simulated teaching environment intended to improve equitable teaching practices revealed significant pre-post changes for measures of voice and engagement. The data also showed significant differences by gender and ethnicity. 

To address the diversity of student differences, educators need to actively recognize and counter patterns of bias in their teaching practices as well as in their classroom environments. This session will provide access to a free simulated teaching bundle that includes multiple modules focused on equitable teaching practices. 

This paper focuses on educators’ use of a simulated teaching environment and its relationship to changes in indices associated with equitable teaching practices. Pre-post survey data were gathered from 39 educators who spent an average of 4 hours and 45 minutes completing 17 sessions in four modules in an online simulated teaching program. Participants were provided with feedback following each session with the intention of improving their performance in subsequent sessions. Results indicated that there were significant and educationally meaningful positive changes in measured indices related to equitable teaching practices following online simulated teaching experiences. 

This paper focuses on educators’ use of a simulated teaching environment and its relationship to changes in indices associated with equitable teaching practices. Pre-post survey data were gathered from 39 educators who spent an average of 4 hours and 45 minutes completing 17 sessions in four modules in an online simulated teaching program. Participants were provided with feedback following each session with the intention of improving their performance in subsequent sessions. Results indicated that there were significant and educationally meaningful positive changes in measured indices related to equitable teaching practices following online simulated teaching experiences. 

Fifty-five (55) K-12 teachers in two US states completed five repetitions of a 15-minute simulated teaching lesson in which six of their 12 simulated students in a class were labeled as having special learning needs while the other six were not labeled. Analysis of three measures of differential focus in instructional attention revealed that educators teaching within the simulator tended to increase attention (p < .05) in the areas where they perceived the greatest needs. That is, they tended to focus increased guidance toward the simulated students that were labeled as having special learning needs. Findings provide credible evidence of the fidelity of the simulated teaching environment as perceived by actual teachers, in that teachers focused actions in the simulator comparable to the manner in which teachers commonly focus guidance in real classrooms, targeting extra assistance where they perceive it is needed. This finding has reconfirmed preliminary indications from a smaller participant pool (n = 40) studied in a previous year and has expanded confirmation of the effect to additional types of special learning needs labels in addition to English Language Learner (ELL). 

Fifty-five (55) K-12 teachers in two US states completed five repetitions of a 15-minute simulated teaching lesson in which six of their 12 simulated students in a class were labeled as having special learning needs while the other six were not labeled. Analysis of three measures of differential focus in instructional attention revealed that educators teaching within the simulator tended to increase attention (p < .05) in the areas where they perceived the greatest needs. That is, they tended to focus increased guidance toward the simulated students that were labeled as having special learning needs. Findings provide credible evidence of the fidelity of the simulated teaching environment as perceived by actual teachers, in that teachers focused actions in the simulator comparable to the manner in which teachers commonly focus guidance in real classrooms, targeting extra assistance where they perceive it is needed. This finding has reconfirmed preliminary indications from a smaller participant pool (n = 40) studied in a previous year and has expanded confirmation of the effect to additional types of special learning needs labels in addition to English Language Learner (ELL). 

This paper focuses on research based on educators’ use of a simulated teaching environment and its relationship to changes in indices associated with equitable teaching practices. Data from 39 educators who spent an average of 4 hours and 39 minutes completing 15 sessions in three modules providing feedback on each session in a simulated teaching environment are included. Results indicated that there were significant and educationally meaningful positive changes in measured indices related to equitable teaching practices following experience teaching in the simSchool simulator. 

Thirty-four students from a career and technical education high school course focusing on teacher education participated in simulation-based teaching exercises within simSchool. Pre and post Likert-style self-reported appraisals on seven scales in the areas of culturally responsive teaching, empathy and technology attitudes are being gathered from all participants. Preliminary findings revealed that a surprisingly strong relationship exists between culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy and cognitive empathy, to the point where empathy can be said to account for more than half of culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy. In addition, females were found to be higher on empathy than males. 

Thirty-four students from a career and technical education high school course focusing on teacher education participated in simulation-based teaching exercises within simSchool. Pre and post Likert-style self-reported appraisals on seven scales in the areas of culturally responsive teaching, empathy and technology attitudes are being gathered from all participants. Preliminary findings revealed that a surprisingly strong relationship exists between culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy and cognitive empathy, to the point where empathy can be said to account for more than half of culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy. In addition, females were found to be higher on empathy than males. 

To address the diversity of student differences, educators need to actively recognize and counter patterns of bias in their teaching practices as well as in their classroom environments. The topic is highly relevant to the education field including faculty of educator preparation programs, classroom teachers and administrators. The simulated teaching environment includes research-based outcomes that show improvement in teaching efficacy and culturally diverse teaching practices. The simulation is focused on allowing educators to “practice teaching” in a variety of content areas any time benefitting from the simEquity experience by learning how to change instructional practices based on bias awareness and guided improvement through targeted feedback. Context appropriate recommendations for improvements in equity-based teaching practices will provide participants with the tools needed for reducing implicit bias in instruction. The cycle includes planning instruction, teaching in a simulation, receiving feedback, improving instruction for subsequent simulations and reflecting on the practices that were used with the artificially created students. One strength of using simulations is the objective feedback provided to participants that allow improvements based on actual choices made with each of the simStudents. All participants will have access for any of their colleagues and students to the “Teaching without bias” module for one year.