ABSTRACT At all levels of education, the racial achievement gap in performance between Black and Latino students and their White peers stubbornly persists. While the causes of this gap are numerous and interrelated, one theory posits that students from underrepresented racial groups may face stereotype threat, meaning that fear of failing and thereby fulfilling negative group stereotypes leads to anxiety and suboptimal cognitive performance. Though low-cost value affirmation interventions have been shown to reduce achievement gaps in some classroom settings, these findings have not been consistently replicated. In this study, we test the efficacy of this intervention among a new sample of students enrolled in a community college in the Midwest. At the beginning of the fall 2016 semester, students in English courses (N = 1,115 in 59 course sections) were randomly assigned to short writing exercises that were either self-affirming or neutral. Using administrative data collected at the end of the term, we compared treatment and control students on a range of outcomes that included course grade, overall GPA, and course persistence. Overall, we find little evidence of a positive effect of this one-time affirmation of social identity. Moderation analyses, however, show heterogeneous effects across course sections, suggesting that the classroom setting may play a role in the interaction between social identity and student outcomes.

中文翻译：

---

减少陈规定型威胁偏见的积极干预：来自社区学院的实验证据

摘要 在各级教育中，黑人和拉丁裔学生与其白人同龄人之间的种族成就差距顽固地持续存在。虽然造成这种差距的原因众多且相互关联，但一种理论认为，来自代表性不足种族群体的学生可能面临刻板印象威胁，这意味着害怕失败并因此实现负面的群体刻板印象会导致焦虑和次优认知表现。虽然低成本的价值肯定干预已被证明可以减少某些课堂环境中的成绩差距，但这些发现并没有得到一致的复制。在这项研究中，我们在中西部一所社区学院就读的新学生样本中测试了这种干预的有效性。2016年秋季学期初，英语课程学生（N=1，59 个课程部分中的 115 个）被随机分配到自我肯定或中立的简短写作练习。使用学期末收集的管理数据，我们比较了治疗学生和对照组学生的一系列结果，包括课程成绩、总体 GPA 和课程坚持。总体而言，我们几乎没有发现这种一次性肯定社会身份会产生积极影响的证据。然而，适度分析显示跨课程部分的异质效应，表明课堂环境可能在社会认同和学生成果之间的相互作用中发挥作用。我们比较了治疗学生和对照组学生的一系列结果，包括课程成绩、总体 GPA 和课程坚持。总体而言，我们几乎没有发现这种一次性肯定社会身份会产生积极影响的证据。然而，适度分析显示跨课程部分的异质效应，表明课堂环境可能在社会认同和学生成果之间的相互作用中发挥作用。我们比较了治疗学生和对照组学生的一系列结果，包括课程成绩、总体 GPA 和课程坚持。总体而言，我们几乎没有发现这种一次性肯定社会身份会产生积极影响的证据。然而，适度分析显示跨课程部分的异质效应，表明课堂环境可能在社会认同和学生成果之间的相互作用中发挥作用。