The Stereotype Threat

There are things that happen in schools every day that hurt kids’ performance. If you knew what those things are, wouldn’t you want to fix them? This is an example of how knowledge is power. The Stereotype Threat is a well-researched phenomenon and all educators and parents should know about it. This issue is addressed in my book Writing the Playbook, but here is a quick summary. Read on!

Research demonstrates that the very existence of a negative stereotype such as “Boys are better than girls in math” or “Girls are better behaved than boys” suppresses the performance of members of the negatively stereotyped group. Here are some examples from the research:

·         Females, who are being tested in math and are told that males score better, will perform worse than females who are not told that males do better.

·         Females perform less well when taking math tests alongside boys, when they are given the test by a male instructor and when they are required to indicate their gender on the answer sheet.

·         African American students perform lower on achievement tests when they are required to mark their race on the answer sheet and when they are told that white students typically perform better on the test.

·         Students who are told to write the letter “F” at the top of their answer sheet before the test begins will score lower than other students who are asked to write the letter “A” or “J” at the top of their sheet.

·         Boys’ performance deteriorates when they are told that girls have better classroom behavior.

According to Hartley & Sutton’s 2010 study Gender Expectations and the Stereotype Threat, lower expectations of boys is contributing to widening gender gaps. In addition to communicating positive “can do” messages to students, it can be very powerful to present students with positive role models that break stereotypes, such as women in STEM careers and men in literacy roles. An awareness of the power of the Stereotype Threat will hopefully cause us all to take a close look at our own homes and classrooms. Children pick up on the spoken and unspoken messages from the world around them. Let’s take a look at what those messages are and find ways to turn them into positives!

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