Self-Affirmation Exercises Reduce Gap

February 17, 2014

Self-affirmation writing exercises have been shown to improve achievement of students who are identified as belonging to racial/ethnic groups that may be subject to stereotype threat (for example, African American and Latino students). In a district-wide field trial seventh-grade students in 11 schools completed a series of writing exercises designed to engage them in values affirmation, and to buffer students from negative societal perceptions of minority students’ under-performance in school. These writing exercises reduced the gaps separating 7th grade African-American and Latino students from their White and Asian peers by 10% to 20%. Researcher Geoffrey Borman says that as the interventions caused African American and Latino students’ minds to be more open to academic success, they productively engaged in learning opportunities and boosted both their GPAs and test scores.

More about Borman’s research: http://bit.ly/1jKUxc2