Closing Achievement Gaps

Catherine Good

Columbia UniversityJanuary 14, 2005

Diversifying the Science and Engineering Workforce: Women, Underrepresented Minorities, and their S&E Careers

The Achievement Gap

• Males outperform females on the math portion of the

SAT by 36 points.

• Compared to white students, Blacks and Latinos

– Earn lower standardized test scores and grades.

– Are less likely to go to college.

– Have higher drop out rates.

% of Degrees Going to Women

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Bachelor's Master's Doctoral

S&E DegreesPsychologyMathEngineering

“In the perception of society my athletic talents are genetic; I am a likely mugger-rapist; my academic failures are expected; and my academic successes are attributed to others. To spend most of my life fighting these attitudes levies an emotional tax that is a form of intellectual emasculation”

-Dr. Neil de Grasse Tyson

http://research.amnh.org/users/tyson/speeches/PhDConvocationAddress.html

Unpleasant apprehension arising from the awareness of a negative ability stereotype in a situation where the

stereotype is relevant, and thus confirmable.

Stereotype ThreatSteele & Aronson, 1995

Stereotype Threat

Stereotype Threat Effects on Black Students’ Performance

Steele & Aronson, 1995

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• Showed greater cognitive activation of racial stereotypes.

• Rated standardized tests as more biased against minorities.

• Rated stereotypical things (liking rap music, or being lazy) as less self-characteristic.

• Were less likely to indicate their race on the test booklet.

Black students who were about to take a diagnostic test...

Additional Studies Finding Performance Effects

• Women taking math tests (Inzlicht & Ben-Zeev, 2000; Spencer, Steele, & Quinn 1999)

• Latinos taking verbal tests (Aronson & Salinas, 1997)

• Low SES students taking verbal tests (Croizet & Claire, 1998)

• Blacks and miniature golf (Stone, 2002)

• White males taking math tests when compared to Asians (Aronson, Lustina, Good, Keough, Steele, & Brown, 1999)

Females’ identity bifurcation in response to stereotype threat

Pronin, Steele, & Ross, 2003

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Self-Theories of IntelligenceDweck, 1999

• Intelligence is fixed– Trait largely determined by nature

• Intelligence is malleable– Quality that can be increased through

nurture

Entity Theorists Incremental Theorists

• Learning goals– seeking to develop ability

• Performance goals– seeking to validate ability as good

relative to others

Desire similar outcome• achieving good scores, doing “well”

Different motivation for pursuing this outcome

“When I take a course in school, it is very important for me to validate that I am smarter than other students.”

“In school I am always seeking opportunities to develop new skills and acquire new knowledge.”

Reducing Stereotype Threat: The Role of Implicit Theories

• Directly teaching an incremental theory – increased enjoyment of education, valuing

academics, and GPA for African American college students (Aronson, Fried, & Good, 2002).

– increased standardized test scores for 7th grade girls in math and Hispanic students in reading comprehension (Good, Aronson & Inzlicht, 2003).

Increasing College GPA Aronson, Fried, & Good, 2002

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Maintaining Academic Identification in the Face of Threat

Aronson, Fried, & Good, 2002

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“Considering all the things that make you who you are, how important is academic achievement?”

Increasing Math Standardized Test Scores

Good, Aronson, & Inzlicht, 2003

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Increasing Reading Comprehension Standardized Test Scores

Good, Aronson, & Inzlicht, 2003

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Conclusions So Far

• Stereotype threat contributes to the achievement gaps.• Stereotype threat causes women to bifurcate their social

identities.• Eliminating stereotype threat can reduce the achievement

gap.• Directly teaching incremental theories about intelligence

– helps stereotyped students maintain high achievement.– reduces disidentification from academics.

Creating an Entity versus an Incremental Environment

• Extolling the “genius” of prominent scientists and mathematicians.

• Valuing quick, effortless solutions.

• De-emphasizing the hard work that underlies scientific discovery.

• Creating a culture of talent.

Hypotheses

• Academic contexts that convey the idea that intelligence is a fixed trait – create a fragile sense of belonging.– create vulnerability to stereotype threat.

• Academic contexts that portray skills as acquirable– foster a more hardy sense of belonging.– provide resiliency against stereotype threat.

Sense of Belonging

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ProcedureGood, Dweck, & Rattan, 2004

• Participants– Calculus I and Calculus II students– 320 Females

• Procedure– Perceptions of Environmental Stereotyping (PEST)– Perceptions of Environmental Entity Theory of Math

Intelligence (PEET)– Sense of Belonging to Math (SOB)

• Time 1: 3 weeks into the semester• Time 2: after midterms• Time 3: 1 week before finals

Sense of BelongingWhen I am in a math setting…

• Membership = .95– I typically have felt that I belong to the math community.

• Acceptance = .91– I feel like an outsider.

– I feel accepted.

• Fade = .79– I try to say as little as possible.

• Affect = .89– I feel anxious.

– I feel comfortable.

• Trust = .75– I trust my instructors to be committed to helping me learn.

• PEET (4 items) = .97– believe that people have a certain amount of math

intelligence and they can’t really do much to change it.– believe that people can learn new things, but they can’t

really change their basic math intelligence.

• PEST (6 items) = .93– believe that females are as good as males in calculus.– would trust a woman just as much as they would trust a

man to figure out important math problems.– believe that females can do just as well as males in math.

People in my calculus class…

Effects of Perceiving an Entity Environment and Stereotyping on

Females’ Sense of Belonging to Math

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Effects of Perceiving an Entity Environment and Stereotyping on

Females’ Intent to Pursue Math

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PEET

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Interest.47 Future

Intent

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NFI = .99; RMSEA = .000p for test of close fit = .99

SAT

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PEET

PEST

P x P

SOB Final Grade

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p = .07

NFI = .99; RMSEA = .04; p for test of close fit = .58

The Effects of Perceiving an Entity Environment and Stereotyping on

Middle School Girls’ Sense of Belonging Good, Dweck & Rattan, 2004

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The Effects of Perceiving an Entity Environment and Stereotyping on Middle School Girls’ Math Grades

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* p = .10

Conclusions

• The race and gender gaps in achievement are due (in part) to the negative stereotypes about minorities’ and females’ abilities.

• The gaps can be reduced by fostering an incremental theory of intelligence.

• Learning environments that convey stereotyping and a fixed view of intelligence undermine females’ sense of belonging to math which in turn affect grades.

Conclusions

• The race and gender gaps in achievement are due (in part) to the negative stereotypes about minorities’ and females’ abilities.

• The gaps can be reduced by fostering an incremental theory of intelligence.

• Learning environments that convey a fixed view of intelligence and stereotyping undermine females’ sense of belonging to math which in turn affects grades.

• Learning environments that convey a malleable view of intelligence enable females to maintain a sense of belonging and high grades, even in the face of stereotypes.