Research Paper on Stereotype Threat

pigeonhole Threat in a High put on the line Testing Environment Jennifer J. Krebs Wilkes University Abstract Given the chop-chop changing demographics of todays classrooms combined with the high-stakes interrogation environment created by the pass period of No fry Left Behind, it is important to figure potential explanations for the industry of exercise gaps. Explanations for the achievement gap have include high populations of English Language Learners (ELLs), socioeconomic issues, overlook of resources at the school, teacher, and pupil levels, and compensate inherent disagreeences in the intellectual abilities of classd and non- bossd groups.A theory substantial by Steele and Aronson, called stereotype panic, provided a radical view into how noesis of stereotypes affects feat (McKown & Strambler, 2009). Stereotype menace is the experience of c atomic number 18 or concern in a billet where a person has the potential to confirm a prejudicial stereotype about thei r loving group. The mixer function of this research was to determine how and when children begin to develop noesis of stereotypes and how stereotype threat affects schoolman exerciseance. IntroductionThe diversity of student demographics increases every day. Therefore, teachers must be increasingly more than(prenominal) alive(predicate) of the heathen differences and challenges that students from different backgrounds bring to school. non only argon these students likely to learn other than based on their cultural expectations, but these students are also likely to possess knowledge of usually held social stereotypes which preempt negatively impact their murder (McKown & Strambler, 2009). The up-to-date emphasis on high-stakes testing makes the achievement of all students extremely important.Experimental research into performance gaps was circumscribed prior to a groundbreaking theatre that rivet on the possibility of stereotype threat. First exposit by social p sychologist Claude Steele and his colleagues, stereotype threat (ST) has been shown to snip the performance of individuals who belong to negatively stereotyped groups (McKown & Strambler, 2009). Since its trigger into the schoolman literature in 1995, stereotype threat has become one of the most widely examine topics in the field of psychology.However, a major hypothesis of this theory was that children possess knowledge of commonly held social stereotypes. In order to address this assumption, the following soft studies were implemented to determine how and when children begin to develop knowledge of stereotypes. This research is combined with quantitative studies to determine how ST affects academic performance. Method Schaffer and Skinner (2009) examined student interactions within quaternity fourth grade classrooms at a versatile public school in the southeastern coupled States.Upon observing student interactions and conducting interviews, the researchers discovered seve ral patterns. First, blanched children were less likely to engage in clear melt talk, fleck black students frequently prosecute in openly racial discussions and often apply commonly held stereotypes to advert themselves. Second, most minority students who performed at the high end of the class and participated in gainsay academic programs relied heavily on racial stereotypes to bridge over the social gap surrounded by themselves and their racial peers.These students desire to distance themselves from the white students with whom they took advanced classes. Third, white students were more likely to describe students of other races as tinny or troublemaking (Schaffer & Skinner, 2009). These observations suggest that students were not only aware of commonly held stereotypes, but strategically used them to steer their social world and dictate social functions. another(prenominal) study, which examined high school students, suggested that these trends continue as students advanced rather than diminish. Lisa M.Nunn (2011) observed six classrooms across trinity different high schools, and conducted 57 interviews with students to determine the ship canal in which students classroom interactions reflected ideas about commonly held stereotypes. In one school, nearly half of the students interviewed said that race matters for school success. At another school, students expressed defeat with being racial targets and felt they had done nil to provoke degrading views from their classmates. Furthermore, in a healing(p) English classroom consisting of eight students, the researcher observe a ommon occurrence. Five of the students in this classroom were Latino, and lead were white. The white students all had learning disabilities which hindered their language usage, while the Latino students only handicap was that English was not their native language (Nunn, 2011). Combining ELLs with students with disabilities effectively treats the native language of ELLs as a learning disability. mingled with the racial views of the students and the systematic reinforcement of prejudices, it is easy to understand why students tend to hold views that race matters for success.The scruple that remains is how does this knowledge of stereotypes affect student academic performance? McKown and Strambler (2009) conducted a study of 124 students ranging in age from grades K-4 in a suburban Chicago area. The students were wedded a series of vignettes to determine their ability to identify stereotypes and then placed in diagnostic or non-diagnostic groups to complete performance tasks. Consistent with prior research, minority participants in the diagnostic group performed worse than in the non-diagnostic group and majority participants performed equally well in both groups (McKown & Strambler, 2009).Desert, Preaux, and Jund (2009) administered preys APM to 153 children within prime(prenominal) and third grades. In the diagnostic group, students were gi ven the monetary standard administration operating instructions as provided in the Ravens APM Administration Manual. In the non-diagnostic group, students were given instructions explaining that the test was actually a series of games that the researchers developed and were testing to determine their appropriateness for the students age groups.Researchers class-conscious the moderates based on socioeconomic status, arguing that negative stereotypes about the performance of low-SES students could result in ST. The results of the study showed that low-SES students in the diagnostic group performed significantly worse than those in the non-diagnostic group. The performance of high SES students did not differ significantly among the two groups (Desert, Preaux, & Jund, 2009). These results suggested that children in the early unproblematic years are not immune to ST, even on a test that is supposed to be culture free. while all of these experiments support he theory of ST, one of th e strongest arguments to date relies heavily on developing technologies. Derks, Inzlicht, and Kang (2008) offered an overview of breakthrough and throughs in social neuroscience research that highlighted biologic factors underlying conditions of stereotype threat. The researchers discussed several experiments that used structural magnetic resonance imagining (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), and event- link potentials (ERP) to measure the neurological activities of participants when asked to perform tasks under diagnostic and non-diagnostic conditions.One study tested women under mathematical performance stereotypes and found that the conflict observe systems of the brain showed a mis-regulation of neural responses. This information back up the hypothesis that emotions aroused by ST conditions lead to a decrease in cognitive ability. The decrease in ability occurred because emotion-regulation centers of the brain experienced increased exercise while areas of the brain assoc iated with academic performance and comprehension experienced decreased activity. The researchers cautioned that neuroscience experiments in the area are too new to allow for generalizations and definitive findings.However, they argued that organic evolution of this area is crucial to the study and understanding of stereotype threat (Derks, Inzlicht, & Kang, 2008). Results The assumption that the performance gap between stereotyped and non-stereotyped groups is solely rooted in cultural differences and limitations of students background is restrictive. Research has shown that in that respect is also a factor of social psychological threat related to knowledge and perceptions of stereotypes, which can depress test tally of stereotyped individuals.The use of high-stakes testing in an overall environment of racial inequality perpetuates that inequality through the emotional and psychological power of the tests over the test-takers. While researchers have begun to delve into the in tricacies as to how stereotype threat causes decreases in performance and other negative effects, there is still much research that needs to be conducted in order to completely understand the mechanisms that underlie the performance deficits that occur as a result of stereotype threat. ConclusionIn conclusion, stereotype threat is a permeative phenomenon that has the ability to impact a variety of individuals in a number of ways. Current research offers us insight as to what stereotype threat is, how it impacts individuals, what mechanisms take on the relationship between stereotype threat and performance, and how we can begin to remediate some of the damaging impacts of this threat. Since the current emphasis on high-stakes testing does not out to be diminishing, teachers and mentors should at a minimum jibe students with knowledge about the possible effects of stereotype threat.In this way, proactive strategies might transform a ineffectual situation into one where students ar e actively fighting(a) in discussions that illuminate the complexities and strengths of their educational activityal futures. Teacher education programs should review their course curriculum and address any gaps in the discussion of standardized testing and methods to alter test scores. Changing test directions from diagnostic to non-diagnostic, educating students in malleable intelligence theories, and reducing the general reach of the testing environment are all methods which could be implemented.References Derks, B. , Inzlicht, M. , & Kang, S. (2008). The neuroscience of stigma and stereotype threat. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 11(2), 163-181. Desert, M. , Preaux, M. , & Jund, R. (2009). So childly and already victims of stereotype threat Socio-economic status and performance of 6 to 9 years old children on Ravens progressive matrices. European daybook of Psychology of Education, 24, 207-218. McKown, C. & Strambler, M. J. (2009).Developmental antecedents and so cial academic consequences of stereotype-consciousness in affection childhood. Child Development, 80, 1643-1659. Nunn, L. (2011). Classrooms as racialized spaces Dynamics of collaboration, tension, and student attitudes in urban and suburban high schools. Urban Education, 46, 1226-1255. Schaffer, R. & Skinner, D. G. (2009). do race in four culturally diverse fourth grade classrooms Silence, race talk, and the negotiation of social boundaries. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 40, 277-296.