Background: Studies in the United States show that school students from some ethnic backgrounds are susceptible to stereotype threat, that this undermines their academic performance, and that a series of virtually zero-cost self-affirmation writing exercises can reduce these adverse effects. In England, however, socioeconomic status (SES) is a…

Brief, targeted self-affirmation writing exercises have recently been offered as a way to reduce racial achievement gaps, but evidence about their effects in educational settings is mixed, leaving ambiguity about the likely benefits of these strategies if implemented broadly. A key limitation in interpreting these mixed results is that they come…

The purpose of this study is to find out whether process oriented writing exercises/activities have any effect on the achievement and attitude of preservice teachers as well as to set forth the opinions of primary preservice teachers on process oriented writing approach. In the research one classroom was designated as experimental group (N = 35)…

Brief, targeted self-affirmation writing exercises have recently been offered as a way to reduce racial achievement gaps, but evidence about their effects in educational settings is mixed, leaving ambiguity about the likely benefits of these strategies if implemented broadly. A key limitation in interpreting these mixed results is that they come…

This article proposes closing the academic performance gaps between African American and Latino students and their White counterparts particularly in the line of research that concerns the idea of "stereotype threat." Stereotype threat is predicated on the notion that people often fear behaving in a way that fits the negative cultural…

Many higher education students embark on a study of accounting under the misconception that accounting requires a high level of proficiency in manipulating data and being good with numbers, while believing that linguistic competence, especially as it relates to writing, is of less importance. This article reports on a study that examined 15…

Research in science education has documented achievement gaps between men and women in math and physics that may reflect, in part, a response to perceived stereotype threat. Research efforts to reduce achievement gaps by mediating the impact of stereotype threat have found success with a short values-affirmation writing exercise. In biology and…

Experimental research has demonstrated both the deleterious effects of negative stereotypes about ability on academic performance and the relative ease with which stereotypes can be countered in educational settings. The extent to which stereotypes contribute to the achievement gap between American students from dominant social and economic groups…

Schools with very few and relatively low-performing marginalized students may be most likely to trigger social identity threats (including stereotype threats) that contribute to racial disparities. We test this hypothesis by assessing variation in the benefits of a self-affirmation intervention designed to counteract social identity threat in a…

Because communication skills, especially writing, are such an integral part of managerial work, it may be postulated that these skills are associated with managerial success. Yet evidence of writing competency is not universally considered for admission to MBA programs. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible correlation between…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of voluntary discussion forums in a higher education setting. Specifically, we examined intrinsic forum participation and investigated its relation to course performance across two experiments. In Experiment 1 (N = 1284) an online discussion forum was implemented at the beginning of an…

This study examined whether having African-American middle school students write essays affirming their personal values improved their academic performance. The study analyzed data on about 175 African-American and 190 European-American students (the study's term for white students who are non-Latino and non-Asian) at a suburban middle school who…

Twenty-three associate degree nursing students completed writing-to-learn microthemes (very short writings that summarize, support theses, solve dilemmas, etc.). Compared to 23 controls, achievement data showed significant improvement in content learning. (SK)

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PROGRAMED PRESENTATION OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE WAS COMPARED TO CONVENTIONAL WORK ASSIGNMENTS. EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS CONSISTED OF 273 FRESHMAN STUDENTS WHO WERE RANDOMLY DISTRIBUTED IN 12 ENGLISH SECTIONS. THEY ATTENDED REGULAR CLASSES BUT RECEIVED DIFFERENT OUT-OF-CLASS TREATMENTS. ALL SUBJECTS WERE TESTED DURING…

This novel and accompanying workbook tell the story of a young girl who had an awakening that made her realize that dropping out of school was wrong. It tells her story of achieving her dream, realized through sacrifice and determination, of graduating high school and attending college. The accompanying workbook presents vocabulary exercises,…