The power of conscious choice

Research on the pervasiveness of racial- and disability-based disparities in schools is not new. For decades, scholars and practitioners alike have been privy to the disparate outcomes between student groups based on identity markers such as race and disability status. Despite the overwhelming evidence of the existence of disparities, less is known about how to effectively shift them. One often overlooked dimension of transforming disparities is identifying strategies to address the inner lives of those in positions of power in schools, such as teachers and school leaders, whose decisions play a large role in perpetuating and/or disrupting inequities. Because systems live through individuals, namely those in positions of power, inner transformation is needed in order to realize collective and social transformation. In this article, a novel model is presented, mindfully informed conscious choice, as a framework for applying mindfulness-based principles in the work of antiracism and antiableism in schools by equipping educators with in the moment strategies to address the effects of bias on their instructional and disciplinary decisions. The model is introduced and the development of an intervention designed based on its tenets is described, demonstrating how this model might be used to address the effects of bias in schools. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)

Discipline · Identity (music) · Intervention (counseling) · Power (physics) · Power structure · Race (biology) · Racial bias · Work (physics) · Critical Race Theory in Education · Education Discipline and Inequality · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies