No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
"Slaying Ghosts in the Room": Identity Contingencies, Teacher Licensure Testing Events, and African American Preservice Teachers
Abstract
Background
In 41 states, students must pass the “basic skills” portion of their licensure exam before they can be admitted into a teacher education program. Because African American test takers are roughly half as likely to pass basic skills exams on their first attempt compared to White test takers, this portion of the licensure exam is a key gatekeeper to the field and directly shapes the racial diversity of the profession. Researchers generally frame this problem in one of two opposing ways: (a) by locating the cause in skill and knowledge deficiencies of test takers or (b) by locating the cause in the cultural bias of standardized test instruments. This study looks beyond these two polarized views to conceptualize the licensure exam as a testing event that includes a nexus of cognitive and affective processes beyond the specific skills the test is designed to measure.
Focus of Study
The study examined the subjective and social psychological ways African American test takers experience teacher licensure testing events. This study was guided by the following research questions: (a) How do African American preservice teachers experience the licensure testing event? (b) How does race become a salient aspect of the testing event experience for African American preservice teachers? The study drew from the social psychological constructs of identity contingencies and situational cues to analyze students’ experiences in the testing event.
Setting and Participants
Participants in this study were 22 African American preservice teachers attending a predominantly and historically Black institution in the northeastern United States. Each of the participants took the paper format basic skills exam in either the spring 2009 or spring 2010 national administration.
Research Design
Drawing from culturally sensitive research practice, this study used a qualitative case study research design to explore test takers’ experiences in the testing event.
Findings/Conclusions
Findings illustrate how the licensure testing event can become a racialized experience for some participants through (a) interactions with test proctors and site administrators before and during examinations and (b) actions of other test takers that inadvertently signaled racial stereotypes about test preparation, intelligence, and character. Racialized experiences for participants were not based upon any specific test questions or content. Findings are discussed in light of previous research to suggest that these experiences have the capacity to produce a host of cognitive and affective states that undermine performance.
... Studies have found that some African American and Latino/a preservice teachers perceive and experience stereotype threat (Steele & Aronson, 1995) on the exam in coordination with difficulties on the exam, and that they do not believe the exams to be accurate measurements of their abilities (Bennett et al., 2006;Graham, 2013). Petchauer (2013Petchauer ( , 2014 explored African American test takers' experiences with the exam but expanded upon previous work in theory and design. Reframing the licensure exam as a test event (a guiding concept we give further attention to in the next section), these studies have focused on how test takers experience the comprehensive "event" of the exam with attention to how it may become a racialized experience. ...
... This work has used identity contingencies and situational cues (Steele, Spencer, & Aronson, 2002) to identify what it is in the test event that signals judgments, treatments, or stereotypes to test takers. The findings indicated that the licensure exam can become a racialized experience through interactions with proctors and other test takers that signal negative ideas about Black test takers' intelligence, test taking abilities, and character (Petchauer, 2014). This work also found that specific methods of test administration, such as a race demographic survey prior to the test, can make the test a racialized experience when some test takers are aware of the larger racialized discourse about standardized tests and African Americans (Petchauer, 2013). ...
... Building upon prior research in this area, we first drew upon Petchauer (2014) to conceptualize teacher licensure exams as a test event. ...
Teacher licensure exams directly shape the racial demographics of the teaching profession. This is particularly the case for “basic skills” exams that are program entrance requirements in the United States and expanding into other countries. This qualitative study explored an important yet overlooked dimension of these exams for test takers: emotional and affective states. Specifically, we were interested in the affective dimension of the test-taking event. Our findings reveal a number of positive and negative affective states that both African American and White preservice teachers experience during the exam and the processes of appraisal that produce these states. Our findings also highlight the importance of preparation activities prior the exam to help alleviate negative affective states during the exam.
... Despite this assertion, there is no clear evidence that teacher testing increases teacher effectiveness (Ayers & Qualls, 1978;Selke et al., 2004). In fact, teacher testing may reduce the number of new teachers in certain minority groups (Angrist & Guryan, 2008;Petchauer, 2014), exclude teachers that would positively contribute to student learning and achievement (Goldhaber, 2007), and result in teacher shortages (Berliner, 2005). It may be that teacher tests do not assess teacher effectiveness because teaching is a complex multi-dimensional construct based on underlying competencies (Berliner, 2005). ...
... Some pre-service teachers indicated that they were opposed to the MPT because it was a waste of time and money and inequitable. There is support for this objection in the literature as prior studies have shown that standardized teacher tests are not good predictors of teacher effectiveness (Goldhaber, 2007) and can result in inequitable outcomes for particular minority groups (Angrist & Guryan, 2008;Petchauer, 2014). ...
Pre-service teachers in Ontario, Canada are required to pass the Math Proficiency Test (MPT) to obtain teacher certification. The MPT has two separate sections that focus on content and general pedagogy. An online survey about the Math Proficiency Test was developed and distributed to pre-service teachers to investigate their perceptions of and preparation for the MPT. Results are reported in relation to four main survey factors: 1) support for the MPT, 2) math anxiety, 3) math teaching confidence, and 4) preparedness for the MPT. In general, pre-service teachers were not in favour of the Math Proficiency Test and reported high levels of anxiety about taking it, despite their low levels of math performance anxiety and high levels of math teaching confidence. Study implications are discussed in relation to the merits of pre-service teacher testing in mathematics.
... Scholars attended to this adverse impact by studying a few different questions related to the exam. Focusing on the experiences of preservice teachers of color, scholars found that some African American (and Latino) test takers experienced identity threats associated with the exam (Bennett et al. 2006;Graham 2013;Petchauer 2014Petchauer , 2015 but also work effectively to navigate these and other challenges Petchauer 2016, in press;Petchauer and Baker-Doyle in press;Petchauer et al. 2015). Large scale quantitative studies found that the predictive validity of content area exams varies by teacher race (Goldhaber and Hansen 2010), and other studies supported the exam as a screen into programs, finding that students who struggled with entrance exams were less likely to be successful on later program demands (Gitomer et al. 2011). ...
... Scholars have used a range of terms with different conceptual affordances to describe and analyze high-stakes teacher tests. These terms include useful signal (Gitomer et al. 2011), test event (Petchauer 2014), inequitable tool (Bennett et al. 2006), and more. For our analysis, we draw from two key concepts from actor network theory (ANT) to conceive of high-stakes exams like edTPA. ...
This article traces how high-stakes teacher exams have shaped the career entry opportunities for Black teachers and makes recommendations for the emerging era of high-stakes performances exams brought about by the edTPA. We begin our analysis in the 1980s and the testing for competencies movement during which scholars critiqued the rising use of high-stakes standardized licensure exams as gatekeepers into teacher education programs. Although the most severe predictions from this crisis moment did not come to fruition, we ask what it can tell us today about exams like the edTPA and how it may impact Black teachers. We outline three findings from the emerging edTPA scholarship in response to this question: (1) mixed and alarming results from edTPA racial bias reviews, (2) institutional resources and unequal distribution, and (3) how the exam may constrain or permit justice. We make recommendations for teacher education programs and for scholars conducting research at the intersection of edTPA and racial bias.
... The National Education Association subtitled their report on racism in standardized testing "From grade school to college, students of color have suffered from the effects of biased testing" (Rosales & Walker, 2021, p. 1). In discussing bias in teacher preparation programs Petchauer (2014) says: "Because African American test takers are roughly half as likely to pass basic skills exams on their first attempt compared to White test takers, this portion of the licensure exam is a key gatekeeper to the field and directly shapes the racial diversity of the profession." (p. 1). ...
This article describes the findings of a study that explored potential factors that influence the pass rate for those taking marriage and family therapy (MFT) licensing exams, both the national and California exams. An online, national survey was conducted to determine factors associated with passing the MFT licensing exams. The survey included measures of test anxiety, coping strategies, perceived stress, and experience of discrimination. The demographic results included patterns of racial and age disparities similar to those reported by the Association of Social Work Boards (2022), especially for Black respondents. Specific and readily implemented recommendations for making the current exams more equitable include (a) changing the phrasing of questions, (b) clarifying and reducing the scope of the content, (c) reducing the number of questions during the 4-hour period, and (d) ensuring adequate accommodations for disabilities.
... A review of GYO Illinois evaluation reports revealed that significant numbers of aspiring TOC were counseled out of the program prior to graduating (Hunt, Garndner, Hood, & Haller, 2011;Hunt, Kalmes, Haller, Hood, & Hesbol, 2012;Perona et al., 2013;Perona, LaSota, & Haeffele, 2015). Certification exams were identified as a significant structural obstacle for these aspiring GYO teachers, a finding that is consistent with research on racial bias and disparity in teacher performance on exams (Petchauer, 2014;Tyler, 2011). The Teach Tomorrow in Oakland program, a district-based GYO model recruiting local college graduates of color, highlighted challenges when recruiting Black males by describing the following statistics from one recruitment year: 22 Black makes attended an informational session, 15 participated in the interview process, eight did not pass the certification exam, one moved out of state, and one was placed in a fall cohort (Rogers-Ard et al., 2012). ...
Grow Your Own (GYO) programs are cited in recent policy briefs as viable pathways for increasing the racial/ethnic diversity of teachers, yet recent scholarship on GYO programs is minimal. To address this issue, this article investigates what we know, and do not know, about GYO programs, by examining a range of data sources on different types of GYO program teacher pools (e.g., middle/high school, paraprofessional, community activists/parents mentors) and making sense of findings over a continuum of teacher development (e.g., recruitment, preparation, induction, and retention). Based on a research synthesis within and across GYO program teacher pools, we argue implications for policy, practice, and research that should accompany increased recommendations for expanding GYO models for Teachers of Color.
... If we were to create policy related to teacher education, we would envision something to support programs for increasing the length of teacher preparation; providing funding for grow-yourown programs and other programs designed in partnership with local communities with local contexts in mind (see, e.g. Cross & Thomas, 2017), supporting financially students enrolled in student teaching who would normally be prevented from leaving full-time employment; and challenging high-stakes entrance and certification exams that disproportionately disenfranchise preservice teachers of color (Cross, 2017;Petchauer, 2014). At present, each of these initiatives are happening in individual programs and spaces, but they have to garner support from grants or local resources. ...
This article explores the intersection of selves and policies for teacher educators in an era of teacher education reform. Borne out of a promise to one another to write about our experiences navigating increasingly complex market-driven, neoliberal attacks on our work and world, we collected data across several years that documented our attempt to break our silence (Lorde, 1977) and explore how we, as teacher educators, make sense of neoliberal reforms and policies in teacher preparation. We draw specifically on Dunn’s theory of the Hydra of Teacher Education (2016), alongside literature on reforms and policies in teacher preparation and teacher educators’ forms of resistance to frame our work, and utilize arts-based poetic inquiry methodology (Prendergast, 2009; Rath, 2001) to explore the real, everyday implications of educational policy in our lives and in our careers. The poems we created as a “performative act” (Prendergast, 2009, p. xxiii) revealed that our experiences seemed to follow a cycle from hopelessness, to silence, to acquiescence, to collective resistance. We look carefully at this last portion of the cycle in our work, wondering how, if at all, teacher educators can resist the neoliberalization of teacher preparation. We conclude with implications for research, policy, and the practice of teacher education as we write to understand, write to resist, and write to survive.
... Teacher education programs have attempted to address these challenges by fostering critical dialogue in safe educational spaces, honoring insider knowledge, supporting ethnic identity, and organizing students in cohort groups (Gist, 2014). These strategies, coupled with attending to structural supports, are particularly important because Black women educators often experience a lack of institutional safeguards needed to transcend barriers and successfully complete their programs (Farinde, LeBlanc, & Otten, 2015;Petchauer, 2014). Berry (2010) argued for engaged and critical feminist pedagogy for Black preservice teachers that forces the teacher educator and teacher candidates to acknowledge intersectionality of their multidimensionality to facilitate transformative learning experiences for their future students. ...
This research study examines the learning experiences of 11th- and 12th-grade Black girls participating in a precollegiate program committed to increasing the number of Teachers of Color entering the profession by viewing a teaching career as an act of social justice committed to educational equity. The pipeline functions as an education reform structure to disrupt pedagogies and policies that push Black girls out of educational spaces at disproportionate rates by instead pushing Black girls to teach. Critical race and Black feminist theories are utilized to analyze interviews from Black girls over a 5-year period of the program and composite characters are developed to spotlight key findings that allow us to (a) better understand and amplify the collective learning and social-emotional experiences of Black girls in the program, (b) highlight and critique the challenges and possibilities for positively pushing Black girls’ intellectual identities as students and future teachers via pedagogies and supports, (c) identify spaces and structures in schools that can resist and combat the marginalization of Black girls’ agency and genius, and (d) consider implications for the development of Black Women Educator pipelines.
... On a more structural level, the very design of many college-and university-based teacher education programs inhibits working-class and first-generation students (who are more likely to be racial and ethnic minorities) due to inadequate college counseling at the high school level, untenable costs of higher education, the limited number of courses offered during non-working hours, decreased access to technology, and the lack of remedial support and mentoring services needed to help compensate for frequently inadequate prior schooling experiences (Petchauer, 2014). ...
This article explores the role of Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) in producing teachers of color. Specifically, it looks at larger national trends and highlights individual MSIs that have experienced success in the area of teacher education and the production of teachers of color. Recommendations are made to assist colleges and universities across the nation.
... Stereotype threat has been found to affect the academic achievement of minority groups and females (e.g., Kellow & Jones, 2008;Spencer, Steele, & Quinn, 1999;Steele, 1997). It also occurs in testing environments where African American testers may perceive the lower expectations of peers and others present in the testing event (McGee, 2013;Petchauer, 2014). ...
This study utilized a mixed-methods approach to holistically examine single-sex and coeducational urban elementary mathematics classes through situated cognitive theory. Participants came from two urban low-income Midwestern elementary schools with a high representation of minority students (n = 77 sixth graders, n = 4 teachers, n = 2 principals). Findings demonstrate that African American girls made more math achievement gains in single-sex classrooms; single-sex classrooms might mitigate math academic stereotypes for students and teachers; and that important contextual factors play a role in these outcomes. Testing these factors is a step toward delineating a theory of change for single-sex education in urban public schools.
This article describes the findings of a study that explored potential factors that influence the pass rate for those taking marriage and family therapy (MFT) licensing exams, both the national and California exams. An online, national survey was conducted to determine factors associated with passing the MFT licensing exams. The survey included measures of test anxiety, coping strategies, perceived stress, and experience of discrimination. The demographic results included patterns of racial and age disparities similar to those reported by the Association of Social Work Boards (2022), especially for Black respondents. Specific and readily implemented recommendations for making the current exams more equitable include (a) changing the phrasing of questions, (b) clarifying and reducing the scope of the content, (c) reducing the number of questions during the 4-hour period, and (d) ensuring adequate accommodations for disabilities.
The future of teaching will increasingly rely on overseas-trained teachers (OTTs) to address teacher shortages. While research on OTTs in the United States is expanding, studies focusing on Afro-Caribbean teachers are emerging. Despite the growing call for more teachers of color, Afro-Caribbean OTTs’ contributions are often overlooked due to their immigrant status. We propose the concepts of “radical transparency” and “fugitive care” to articulate how these teachers’ classroom practices offer alternative possibilities for schooling, making the learning process both explicit and equitable for all students. Drawing on a Transnational Black Feminist Framework (TBF), we highlight the unique politics of care practiced by these teachers, revealing gaps in our cultural understanding and underscoring their vital, yet understudied, contributions to education.
Background and Context
Teacher licensure and certification are complex processes that aim to establish standards of teacher quality by regulating entry into the profession. However, many teachers of color experience barriers when navigating licensure and certification.
Purpose
Using racialized administrative burdens as a theoretical lens to understand such barriers, this study attends to structural biases assembled in ostensibly race-neutral administrative processes within teacher licensure and certification.
Research Design
Embedded within a larger project exploring licensure and certification barriers for teachers of color, data for this qualitative study include interviews with 17 teachers of color and two focus group sessions with licensure administrators—four school district personnel and four university-based licensure administrators.
Study Conclusions
We identified racialized administrative burdens related to accessing information and resources, financial strains, and other compliance costs, as well as psychological burdens that rendered disempowering effects on teachers’ sense of belonging and persistence. As states consider and implement initiatives to diversify the teacher workforce, this study casts light on the licensure and credentialing process as a policy mechanism to address racialized barriers.
In this mixed-methods study, we seek to understand the impact of the California Subject Examination for Teachers (CSET) on the makeup of the teacher pipeline. We are specifically interested in exploring how teachers of color are impacted by these tests when seeking to enter the teacher workforce. Findings from the data, both qualitative and quantitative, provide evidence that the tests negatively impact all four racialized groups as labeled by the California Teaching Commission (African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and Native American), while also conveying racialized messaged to candidates of color. In contrast to common rhetoric about the utility of these exams, we found the CSETs to hinder efforts to diversify the teacher.
Background
Teacher education programs at Minority Serving Institutions – which include Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Native American and Tribal Colleges, Asian American and Pacific Islander Serving Institutions, and Hispanic Serving Institutions – are an under-researched resource.
Purpose
Our aim is to provide a foundation and set an agenda for future research on teacher education within the Minority Serving Institution context.
Research Design
The first part of this paper reviews the literature on the relationship between minority student achievement and teacher education, with an emphasis on the contribution and role of minority teacher candidates. The second part of this paper sets the agenda for future research on the role of Minority Serving Institutions’ teacher education programs, including what we already know and seek to learn about their unique and innovative approaches to recruitment, pedagogical approaches and course content, mentoring, academic support and remediation, and pre-service teaching experiences.
Conclusion
Some questions addressed include: In what specific ways are MSIs reframing teaching as a viable and accessible option for minority students? What are MSIs doing with regard to early recruitment of promising minority teacher candidates? What kinds of mentoring and support strategies are they offering, and to what do they attribute high rates of teacher retention in their programs?
Background/Context:
Although some research has been conducted on the experiences of preservice teachers of color who attend Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), little cross-institutional, qualitative research—disaggregated by type of MSI—exists on the potential of MSIs to prepare and graduate teachers of color. This article examines how teacher preparation programs and professors at two 4-year public Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs)—a type of MSI—respond to two barriers to the profession for Hispanic and Black students: state licensure exams and being underserved in their K–12 education.
Focus of Study:
At both institutions, white students were overrepresented, and Hispanic and Black students were underrepresented, in the population of students admitted to a teacher preparation program. Through a conceptual framework of “servingness” and an intersectional theoretical framework, disability critical race theory (DisCrit), I sought to center the voices of students and faculty of color and understand: (a) how state requirements for employment and licensure were incorporated into each teacher preparation program’s admissions criteria, (b) how each program’s admissions process impacted the race and ability/academic achievement of students enrolled in education coursework, and (c) how professors responded to the racial and ability diversity of their students.
Participants:
Four focal professors (two at each institution) and nine students (two or three in each course) participated. At each institution, one professor was teaching an introductory class—open to any undergraduate student who might have an interest in teaching—and one a methods course—open only to admitted preservice teachers (graduate and undergraduate students seeking certification).
Research Design:
A DisCrit methodology was utilized to center the voices of multiply-marginalized students and faculty and to analyze their stories in relation to larger systems of power and privilege. Primary data sources—three interviews with the focal professors and one interview with each student—were analyzed inductively. Codes and categories generated from the interviews were used to deductively analyze course observations. To better understand “servingness,” analytic categories were compared between institutions and between course types.
Conclusions/Recommendations:
Each preparation program responded differentially to state requirements in their admissions criteria, which had implications for both the racial demographics of admitted preservice teachers and how professors (a) responded to students’ prior K–12 experiences, and (b) described which students (of color) had the capacity to be teachers. Recommendations include: (a) examining “servingness” not only across HSIs, but also across different levels of courses, and (b) integrating support—rooted in students’ experiences—throughout teacher preparation.
In the teacher workforce, approximately two-thirds of teachers are White. While the population of diverse learners has grown in school, we lack teacher diversity. Diversifying voices and perceptions of all students is important. Teachers from minority groups can contribute to this diversification. This study examined teacher self-identity and teacher self-efficacy among 22 diverse preservice teachers at a university. The researcher looked at: (1) how these preservice teachers self-identify through the teacher education programs, and (2) how their teacher education programs and field teaching experiences shape their teacher self-efficacy. Results showed that they developed their identities based on their ethnic and racial identities and family backgrounds. They also believed they can make positive impacts on students. Results showed no significant differences on the overall of self-efficacy and on three subscales of efficacy between first- and second-year preservice teachers and third- and fourth-year preservice teachers. Implications for teacher educators are discussed.
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to identify and understand the experiences of teacher candidates and alumni of color within a multi-campus teacher preparation program at a large public institution in the northwest region of the USA.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative study used focus group methodology. Four semi-structured interviews of participants were conducted to investigate the opportunities, challenges, resources and supports experienced by participants in the teacher preparation program.
Findings
The findings indicate that while participants had varied individualized experiences within the teacher preparation program, many of them had common experiences that impacted their overall success within the program. These shared experiences include finding their voices silenced and seeking out experiences of authentic care.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the growing body of research focused on the recruitment and retainment of students of color within teacher education. The suggested implications offer important considerations for practitioners and policymakers regarding the recruitment and retention of students of color in teacher preparation programs.
Research on the attrition of teachers of color suggests that, under certain organizational conditions, they leave teaching at higher rates than other teachers. Additionally, research has identified microaggressions experienced by Black teachers. Building on the literature, we explored how racism and microaggressions may help us understand Black mathematics teachers’ attrition. We designed and administered the Black Teachers of Mathematics Perceptions Survey and found that teachers’ experiences of microaggressions accounted for most of the variance in our modeling of teachers’ thoughts of leaving the profession. These data reveal that anti-Black, racist microaggressions should be addressed as organizational conditions to be mitigated. From a critical quantitative perspective, the data reveal sociocultural and sociopolitical influences that often go unnoticed in large-scale policy work.
This qualitative case study provides a deep dive into a teacher education program at Jackson State University, a Historically Black University (i.e. HBCU) located in Mississippi that is intentionally preparing Black men teacher candidates to successfully support the academic achievement of students in culturally diverse, low-income, and underserved schools.
Researchers, policy centers, and professional organizations have identified social justice issues related to teacher certification and retention, and have published recommendations for addressing these issues. This article uses one such issue – the underrepresentation of students of color in passing scores on teacher certification exams – as an example of how one scholar shifted her focus from research to activism. This article challenges scholars to engage in academic activism to work toward positive change as a necessary extension of social justice research.
This article explores what happens behind the closed doors and in the ‘black box’ of high-stakes educational testing. Our specific concern is licensure exams that are often gatekeepers into teacher education programs and the profession. Leveraging the spatial turn across critical social theory and other disciplines, we conceptualize the test space of these exams in order to account for the powerful reach that test companies have into teacher education and the ‘ideal’ restrictive space that test takers navigate. Against this conceptual background, we share findings from a larger qualitative study to illustrate how test takers ‘practice’ test space into something more manageable and familiar by leveraging various affordances presented to them. Overall, our study accounts for the spatial dimension of high-stakes educational tests and initiates productive ways to begin thinking about the structure and agency of these spaces.
This study utilizes the conceptual framework of culturally responsive pedagogy and theoretical suppositions about the culturally responsive teacher educator to examine the learning experiences of teacher candidates of color. Findings from the case study of a teacher educator’s and teacher candidates’ of color teaching and learning experiences in a semester-long course revealed the following: (a) The teacher educator’s culturally responsive content was characterized by resistance, revelation, and support and (b) culturally responsive teacher educator pedagogy involved instructional approaches of modeling change and building community. Implications for culturally responsive pedagogies in the teacher education classroom and professional development are explored.
This article reports findings from a 3-year qualitative study exploring the experiences of African American preservice teachers as they prepared for the Praxis “basic skills” teacher-licensure exam, a gatekeeper to many teacher-education programs. Using the construct of self-efficacy, results illustrate how students assess their Praxis capabilities from (a) previous mastery or failure experiences with other standardized tests and classes from college to elementary school and (b) vicarious experiences from African American students, friends, and family members. The article provides recommendations to prepare students for preprofessional examinations such as Praxis that often limit the numbers of African American teachers eligible for certification.
Whereas past researchers have treated targets of stereotypes as though they have uniform reactions to their stereotyped status (e.g., J. Crocker & B. Major, 1989; C. M. Steele & J. Aronson, 1995), it is proposed here that targets differ in the extent to which they expect to be stereotyped by others (i.e., stigma consciousness). Six studies, 5 of which validate the stigma-consciousness questionnaire (SCQ), are presented. The results suggest that the SCQ is a reliable and valid instrument for detecting differences in stigma consciousness. In addition, scores on the SCQ predict perceptions of discrimination and the ability to generate convincing examples of such discrimination. The final study highlights a behavioral consequence of stigma consciousness: the tendency for people high in stigma consciousness to forgo opportunities to invalidate stereotypes about their group. The relation of stigma consciousness to past research on targets of stereotypes is considered as is the issue of how stigma consciousness may encourage continued stereotyping.
In this chapter a theory of motivation and emotion developed from an attributional perspective is presented. Before undertaking this central task, it might be beneficial to review the progression of the book. In Chapter 1 it was suggested that causal attributions have been prevalent throughout history and in disparate cultures. Studies reviewed in Chapter 2 revealed a large number of causal ascriptions within motivational domains, and different ascriptions in disparate domains. Yet some attributions, particularly ability and effort in the achievement area, dominate causal thinking. To compare and contrast causes such as ability and effort, their common denominators or shared properties were identified. Three causal dimensions, examined in Chapter 3, are locus, stability, and controllability, with intentionality and globality as other possible causal properties. As documented in Chapter 4, the perceived stability of a cause influences the subjective probability of success following a previous success or failure; causes perceived as enduring increase the certainty that the prior outcome will be repeated in the future. And all the causal dimensions, as well as the outcome of an activity and specific causes, influence the emotions experienced after attainment or nonattainment of a goal. The affects linked to causal dimensions include pride (with locus), hopelessness and resignation (with stability), and anger, gratitude, guilt, pity, and shame (with controllability).
Much of psychology focuses on universal principles of thought and action. Although an extremely productive pursuit, this approach, by describing only the “average person,” risks describing no one in particular. This article discusses an alternate approach that complements interests in universal principles with analyses of the unique psychological meaning that individuals find in their experiences and interactions. Rooted in research on social cognition, this approach examines how people’s lay theories about the stability or malleability of human attributes alter the meaning they give to basic psychological processes such as self-regulation and social perception. Following a review of research on this lay theories perspective in the field of social psychology, the implications of analyzing psychological meaning for other fields such as developmental, cultural, and personality psychology are discussed.
This report focuses on two aspects of teacher supply and quality: (a) the under‐representation of racial/ethnic minorities, especially African Americans in the teaching pool, and (b) teacher candidates' performance on licensure assessments, including general skills tests in reading, writing, and mathematics (known as Praxis I ® ) and selected tests covering areas of content and pedagogy (known as Praxis II ® ). The report presents trends in the overall and minority teaching workforce, utilizes some of the available Praxis TM program data, combined with interviews of faculty and students involved in college and university teacher preparation programs, to address supply, achievement, and performance gaps between prospective minority and White teachers. African American candidates are the focal group in this report, in order to gauge the effect that Praxis has on the supply of prospective African American teachers and to generate ideas for closing gaps. Other minority Praxis test‐taking populations in the selected states are not included because these are not large enough to produce sufficient data from which to make valid inferences.
The research was collaboratively planned and guided by National Education Association and Educational Testing Service to use Praxis data for addressing the following questions: (a) What are the trends in minority representation among teacher candidates, (b) What are the differences between majority and minority candidates' performance on both Praxis I and Praxis II, (c) Are the performance differences reflected in the state licensing pass rates of majority and minority candidates, and (d) What factors should be targeted to reduce racial/ethnic group performance differences on Praxis I and Praxis II.
Recent randomized experiments have found that seemingly “small” social-psychological interventions in education—that is, brief exercises that target students’ thoughts, feelings, and beliefs in and about school—can lead to large gains in student achievement and sharply reduce achievement gaps even months and years later. These interventions do not teach students academic content but instead target students’ psychology, such as their beliefs that they have the potential to improve their intelligence or that they belong and are valued in school. When social-psychological interventions have lasting effects, it can seem surprising and even “magical,” leading people either to think of them as quick fixes to complicated problems or to consider them unworthy of serious consideration. The present article discourages both responses. It reviews the theoretical basis of several prominent social-psychological interventions and emphasizes that they have lasting effects because they target students’ subjective experiences in school, because they use persuasive yet stealthy methods for conveying psychological ideas, and because they tap into recursive processes present in educational environments. By understanding psychological interventions as powerful but context-dependent tools, educational researchers will be better equipped to take them to scale. This review concludes by discussing challenges to scaling psychological interventions and how these challenges may be overcome.
Many individuals who attempt to enter teacher education programs are precluded from doing so because of an inability to pass basic skills tests. The authors examine whether these tests are simply a gate that needs to be passed through or whether they provide useful early information about how individuals are likely to perform on subsequent licensure tests. By examining a pool of individuals who took both basic skills and licensure tests, the authors contrast the likelihood of passing licensure tests given how well individuals performed on the basic skills test. The results support the hypothesis that basic skills tests are measuring cognitive skills important to the learning of material required for success in attaining teacher licensure and are not simply a bureaucratic hurdle.
The authors contend that the temptation to generalize about the problems and potential solutions facing teacher education are often simplified to the point of being misleading. Sensible policy decisions based on research findings require that attention be given to the complex profile of supply and demand and teacher ability; these issues should be explored in consideration of local demand and specific content-area needs. The authors posit that the academic ability of teachers is not adequately characterized by broad generalizations; teachers who achieve licensure in specific content areas appear to have much stronger academic profiles than those who achieve elementary, physical, and special education licenses. The mere act of raising passing standards for teacher licensure tests will not achieve desired effects unless serious attention is given to the recruitment and retention of highly qualified candidates, with particular emphasis on actions necessary to develop a demographically diverse teaching force.
This study investigated Black racial identity attitudes as a moderator of intellectual performance in potentially stereotype threatening situations. Ninety-eight African American students were randomly assigned to one of three stereotype threatening conditions: low threat, medium threat, or high threat. Analyses confirmed a stereotype threat effect with participants performing significantly better on the task in the low threat condition. Additional analyses of the test takers’ racial identity profiles under high and low threat conditions revealed a significant interaction between Internalization status attitudes and the type of threat condition. In the low stereotype threat condition, Internalization status attitudes moderated performance on the intellectual task (i.e., items from the verbal section of the GRE). In this condition, after controlling for SAT verbal score, students who strongly endorsed Internalization racial identity attitudes correctly solved more items than students who did not identify as strongly with Internalization status attitudes. Implications of these findings are discussed.
Students from poorer families perform worse on intellectual tasks than do other students. The authors tested the stereotype threat hypothesis as a possible explanation for this difference. Students from relatively poor backgrounds, such as members of other stereotyped groups, risk confirming a negative reputation of low intellectual ability. The authors predicted that, on a stereotype-relevant test, members of this group would experience apprehension about confirming their negative reputation and that this susceptibility to the stereotype would impair their performance. The study varied stereotype threat by manipulating the instructions accompanying the test that each participant completed. When described as a measure of intellectual ability, low socioeconomic status (SES) participants performed worse than high SES participants. However, when the test was presented as nondiagnostic of intellectual ability, low SES participants' performances did not suffer, contesting claims of SES differences in intellectual ability.
For a long time I have had the gnawing desire to convey the broad motivational sig nificance of the attributional conception that I have espoused and to present fully the argument that this framework has earned a rightful place alongside other leading theories of motivation. Furthermore, recent investigations have yielded insights into the attributional determinants of affect, thus providing the impetus to embark upon a detailed discussion of emotion and to elucidate the relation between emotion and motivation from an attributional perspective. The presentation of a unified theory of motivation and emotion is the goal of this book. My more specific aims in the chapters to follow are to: 1) Outline the basic princi ples that I believe characterize an adequate theory of motivation; 2) Convey what I perceive to be the conceptual contributions of the perspective advocated by my col leagues and me; 3) Summarize the empirical relations, reach some definitive con clusions, and point out the more equivocal empirical associations based on hypotheses derived from our particular attribution theory; and 4) Clarify questions that have been raised about this conception and provide new material for still further scrutiny. In so doing, the building blocks (if any) laid down by the attributional con ception will be readily identified and unknown juries of present and future peers can then better determine the value of this scientific product."
This author introduces a framework to guide researchers into a process of racial and cultural awareness, consciousness, and positionality as they conduct education research. The premise of the argument is that dangers seen, unseen, and unforeseen can emerge for researchers when they do not pay careful attention to their own and others’ racialized and cultural systems of coming to know, knowing, and experiencing the world. Education research is used as an analytic site for discussion throughout this article, but the framework may be transferable to other academic disciplines. After a review of literature on race and culture in education and an outline of central tenets of critical race theory, a nonlinear framework is introduced that focuses on several interrelated qualities: researching the self, researching the self in relation to others, engaged reflection and representation, and shifting from the self to system.
This article contributes to discussions about culturally sensitive research approaches in qualitative research. The author argues that the use of culturally sensitive research approaches in research focusing on African Americans can use the cultural knowledge and experiences of researchers and their participants in the design of the research as well as in the collection and interpretation of data. The author presents a rationale for the use of culturally sensitive research approaches for African Americans, a theoretical framework for culturally sensitive research approaches, and a discussion of culturally sensitive research in practice. This article concludes by discussing some implications for teaching and practice in educational research.
The study investigated the applicability of previous experimental research on stereotype threat to operational Graduate Record Examinations® (GRE®) General Test testing centers. The goal was to document any relationships between features of the testing environment that might cue stereotype threat as well as any impact on GRE test scores among African American, Hispanic, Asian American, and female test-takers. Among such features were the gender and ethnicity of test proctors and more general factors, such as the size, activity level, and social atmosphere of test centers. Our analyses revealed several relationships among environmental factors and several variations in test performance for all groups. However, we found no direct support for stereotype threat and, in fact, found some effects for proctor ethnicity that ran counter to a stereotype-threat explanation.
Virtually all states require teachers to undergo licensure testing before partic-ipation in the public school labor market. This article analyzes the informa-tion these tests provide about teacher effectiveness. The authors find that licensure tests have different predicative validity for student achievement by teacher race. They also find that student achievement is impacted by the race/ethnicity match between teachers and their students, with Black students significantly benefitting from being matched with a Black teacher. As a conse-quence of these matching effects, the uniform application of licensure stand-ards is likely to have differential impacts on the achievement of White and minority students. T he role of teachers in education has long been identified as the most significant of all school factors that affect student learning, starting with the Coleman report, Equality of Educational Opportunity (Coleman, 1966). More recent research analyzing the relationship between teacher effectiveness and student achievement at the micro-level has confirmed these findings and further suggests that effectiveness varies considerably among teachers (Aaronson, Barrow, & Sander, 2007; Hanushek, 1992; DAN GOLDHABER is a professor at University of Washington, Center on Reinventing Public Education, 2101 North 34th Street, Suite 195, Seattle, WA 98103; e-mail: dgoldhab@u.washington.edu. His work focuses on issues of educational productivity and reform at the K-12 level, and the relationship between teacher labor markets and teacher quality. MICHAEL HANSEN is a research associate in the Education Policy Center at the Urban Institute, Washington, D.C.; e-mail: mhansen@urban.org. His most current research projects investigate teacher contracts, behavioral responses to incentives, and value-added estimates of performance.
Two studies were designed to examine the costs of stereotype endorsement for women's self-perceptions, career intentions, and susceptibility to stereotype threat in the math domain. Study 1, a survey of women majoring in math-related fields, revealed that women who believe that status differences between the sexes are legitimate were more likely to endorse gender stereotypes about women's math abilities, which in turn predicted more negative self-perceptions of math competence and less interest in continuing study in one's field. In Study 2, women who tended to endorse gender stereotypes were found to be more susceptible to the negative effects of stereotype threat on their math test performance. The implications of these results for research on stereotype endorsement and women's math achievement are discussed.
Stereotyped individuals vary in how chronically self-conscious they are of their stigmatized status, which Pinel (1999) has dubbed stigma consciousness. The current study investigated whether individual differences in stigma consciousness moderate the impact of gender stereotypes on the math performance of women. Results indicated that, under conditions designed to evoke stereotype threat (Steele, 1997), women high in stigma consciousness scored worse than women low in stigma consciousness on a math test. In the control (low threat) condition, stigma consciousness was unrelated to test performance. Possible mechanisms underlying this moderation are discussed.
A brief intervention aimed at buttressing college freshmen's sense of social belonging in school was tested in a randomized controlled trial (N = 92), and its academic and health-related consequences over 3 years are reported. The intervention aimed to lessen psychological perceptions of threat on campus by framing social adversity as common and transient. It used subtle attitude-change strategies to lead participants to self-generate the intervention message. The intervention was expected to be particularly beneficial to African-American students (N = 49), a stereotyped and socially marginalized group in academics, and less so to European-American students (N = 43). Consistent with these expectations, over the 3-year observation period the intervention raised African Americans' grade-point average (GPA) relative to multiple control groups and halved the minority achievement gap. This performance boost was mediated by the effect of the intervention on subjective construal: It prevented students from seeing adversity on campus as an indictment of their belonging. Additionally, the intervention improved African Americans' self-reported health and well-being and reduced their reported number of doctor visits 3 years postintervention. Senior-year surveys indicated no awareness among participants of the intervention's impact. The results suggest that social belonging is a psychological lever where targeted intervention can have broad consequences that lessen inequalities in achievement and health.
This article traces developments that followed warnings in the 1980s that tests used for admission to teacher education or for licensure may prevent or discourage capable African Americans from entering into teaching. With this alleged detrimental effect of teacher testing still an issue, the reported study used the evaluations of a group of elementary student teachers by their university supervisors and the student teachers' scores on the Pre-Professional Skills Test (PPST) to examine the impact on the teaching effectiveness of newly licensed teachers that might be predicted to result if a PPST cutoff score is raised by one point. The findings of the study are placed in a context of possible tradeoffs in raising basic skills cutoffs for teacher licensure, especially certain negative tradeoffs related to participation of African Americans in teaching.
The acclaimed social psychologist offers an insider’s look at his research and groundbreaking findings on stereotypes and identity.Claude M. Steele, who has been called “one of the few great social psychologists,” offers a vivid first-person account of the research that supports his groundbreaking conclusions on stereotypes and identity. He sheds new light on American social phenomena from racial and gender gaps in test scores to the belief in the superior athletic prowess of black men, and lays out a plan for mitigating these “stereotype threats” and reshaping American identities.
It has long been argued that stigmatized individuals can ultimately internalize the stereotype alleging their inferiority. The present article
investigated whether the internalization of the reputation of math inferiority that targets women can affect their math performance and whether this influence is caused by a disruption of working memory. A first study showed that stereotype endorsement had a significant impact on women’s statistic performance by lowering their self-evaluation of math ability even when controlling for prior achievement. A second study was designed to assess the possibility that the lower math performance displayed by women with low self-evaluation of math ability was due to interference in working memory. Using a dual task paradigm, this study showed that indeed women with low math self-evaluation displayed more errors and spent more time solving additions than women with high math self-evaluation, but mainly on difficult items of the dual task. The findings, which are congruent with an explanation in terms of a temporary disruption of working memory, are discussed.
This qualitative portraiture study explored how race becomes a conscious and salient dimension of teacher licensure exams for black preservice teachers. The findings focus on one black preservice teacher and how she identified as white on the demographic survey preceding her licensure exam due to the racialized nature of the experience and the intense pressure to pass the exam. The findings illustrate how the technical means of test administration coupled with the racialized discourse about black students and standardized tests were important factors in her decision to identify as white. The findings also illustrate how feelings of shame and conciliatory hard work were byproducts of this decision and influenced her subsequent preparation for licensure exams. From these findings, the article discusses steps that test designers and faculty members can take to decrease the racialized aspect of teacher licensure exams. This study has specific relevance to countries such as the United States and England that use licensure exams as gatekeepers to the teaching profession.
The authors examined aspects of concurrent, predictive, and consequential validity evidence of the Pre-Professional Skills Test (PPST) scores as college of education admission criteria. American College Test (ACT) scores and PPST subtest scores of 372 graduates, and PPST scores, undergraduate grade point averages (GPAs), and student-teaching ratings of 1,062 graduates of a southwestern urban teacher education program were investigated. Findings of correlation and hierarchical regression analyses suggest evidence of a concurrent relationship between corresponding PPST and ACT subtest scores, no predictive relationship between PPST scores and student-teaching ratings, and a weak predictive relationship between PPST scores and student undergraduate GPAs. In addition, a differential impact of the use of the PPST on ethnic minorities was apparent. The plausibility of waiving PPST requirements for applicants with above-average ACT subtest scores is discussed.
“Basic skills” teacher licensure exams such as Praxis are the first gatekeepers to the teaching profession. Fewer than half of the aspiring Black teachers who take these exams pass on their first attempt. While critiques of these exams are warranted, critiques alone will do little to help certify more Black teachers. This solution-oriented article makes both a theoretical and practical contribution to this area. First, it provides a selected overview of two theoretical areas that have relevance to understanding teacher licensure testing. These theoretical areas are self-efficacy and sociocultural theory. The article then draws from the author's 6 years of preparing Black preservice teachers for licensure exams to illustrate how these theories can shape practice at both programmatic and classroom levels.
Research on “stereotype threat” (Aronson, Quinn, & Spencer, 1998; Steele, 1997; Steele & Aronson, 1995) suggests that the social stigma of intellectual inferiority borne by certain cultural minorities can undermine the standardized test performance and school outcomes of members of these groups. This research tested two assumptions about the necessary conditions for stereotype threat to impair intellectual test performance. First, we tested the hypothesis that to interfere with performance, stereotype threat requires neither a history of stigmatization nor internalized feelings of intellectual inferiority, but can arise and become disruptive as a result of situational pressures alone. Two experiments tested this notion with participants for whom no stereotype of low ability exists in the domain we tested and who, in fact, were selected for high ability in that domain (math-proficient white males). In Study 1 we induced stereotype threat by invoking a comparison with a minority group stereotyped to excel at math (Asians). As predicted, these stereotype-threatened white males performed worse on a difficult math test than a nonstereotype-threatened control group. Study 2 replicated this effect and further tested the assumption that stereotype threat is in part mediated by domain identification and, therefore, most likely to undermine the performances of individuals who are highly identified with the domain being tested. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the development of stereotype threat theory as well as for standardized testing.
Research suggests that the experience of belonging to a group whose academic abilities are negatively stereotyped fosters disidentification over time, that is, the psychological insulation of the self from academic evaluations and outcomes (Crocker, Major, & Steele, 1998). This research tests whether the process of disidentification can ironically improve motivation when mobilized in response to specific situations. Black and White participants were given negative feedback on an ability-diagnostic or non-diagnostic task. Subsequently, all participants were given the opportunity to persist on the task and their level of disengagement was assessed. As hypothesized, Black participants in the diagnostic condition displayed the most persistence as well as the most disengagement and this persistence response was mediated by their disengagement. The results suggest that, in contrast to chronic disengagement, situational disengagement may help facilitate motivation and persistence.
A meta-analysis was conducted to examine the degree to which teachers’ test scores and their performance in preparation programs as measured by their collegiate grade point average (GPA) predicted their teaching competence. Results from 123 studies that yielded 715 effect sizes were analyzed, and the mediating effects of test and GPA type, criterion type, teaching level, service level, and decade of data collection were considered. It was found that test scores were at best modestly related to teaching competence and that performance in preparation programs was a significantly better predictor of teaching skill. Results revealed that test scores likely do not provide additional information beyond preservice performance to safeguard the public from incompetent teaching.
This longitudinal study examined the PRAXIS I experiences of African American and Latino undergraduates seeking admission into teacher education at a Big Ten university. Participants were 44 students selected from a larger sample enrolled in a recruitment and support program aimed at members of underrepresented minority groups. The theoretical framework included ethnic identity development, stereotype threat, cultural continuity/discontinuity, and bias in standardized testing. Findings showed differences between Latino and African American students who took PRAXIS I and gender and socioeconomic differences within each ethnic group. Three “composite portraits” revealed similarities and differences across race, class, and gender and evidence that PRAXIS I is an inequitable admissions tool.
This article traces themes found in the research on preservice teachers’ views of cultural diversity published in peer-reviewed journals from 1985 to 2007. The article seeks to draw insights that inform education researchers interested in interrogating and unpacking views about diversity expressed by today’s millennial college students. Findings suggest that although recent studies report a shift toward more positive attitudes about teaching culturally diverse students, persistent issues plague preservice teachers’ understanding of cultural diversity. Implications for future research are discussed.
Asa Hilliard has left his mark, and his name belongs in the pantheon of esteemed African American scholars, educational researchers, teachers, and activists. Although his work has served as a clarion call for an Afrocentric orientation in psychology and education to address the needs of African American students, his contributions to the field’s thinking about educational evaluation date back 30 years and have seldom if ever been noted. For nearly three quarters of a century, issues of fairness and equity have guided and driven the work of African American scholars in educational evaluation. These issues remain uppermost in their minds today as they investigate society’s woefully inadequate schools for children from racial minority and/or poor backgrounds. It is within this space that this discourse links the legacy of African American educational researchers and evaluators during the pre-Brown era to Hilliard’s later contributions to the field’s thinking about educational evaluation.
This article reviews data-based research studies on preservice teacher preparation for multicultural schools, particularly schools that serve historically underserved communities. In this article, the author reviews 80 studies of effects of various preservice teacher education strategies, including recruiting and selecting students, cross-cultural immersion experiences, multicultural education coursework, and program restructuring. Although there is a large quantity of research, very little of it actually examines which strategies prepare strong teachers. Most of the research focuses on addressing the attitudes and lack of knowledge of White preservice students. This review argues that although this is a very important problem that does need to be addressed, it is not the same as figuring out how to populate the teaching profession with excellent multicultural and culturally responsive teachers.
This article traces developments that followed warnings in the 1980s that tests used for admission to teacher education or for licensure may prevent or discourage capable African Americans from entering into teaching. With this alleged detrimental effect of teacher testing still an issue, the reported study used the evaluations of a group of elementary student teachers by their university supervisors and the student teachers' scores on the Pre-Professional Skills Test (PPST) to examine the impact on the teaching effectiveness of newly licensed teachers that might be predicted to result if a PPST cutoff score is raised by one point. The findings of the study are placed in a context of possible tradeoffs in raising basic skills cutoffs for teacher licensure, especially certain negative tradeoffs related to participation of African Americans in teaching.
The purpose of this qualitative investigation was to understand the sources of self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997) for an African American teacher in a suburban high school in the United States. As one of only three African American teachers in the school, she encountered many challenges that could have threatened her sense of efficacy and thus caused her to leave the school, yet she persevered. We attempted to identify and interpret the sources of efficacy that encouraged the teacher's persistence in an unsupportive environment. In addition, we considered how the concept of stereotype threat might help us better understand the teacher's situation. Findings of the case study have implications for teacher self-efficacy theory and research, as well as teacher persistence.
When women perform math, unlike men, they risk being judged by the negative stereotype that women have weaker math ability. We call this predicamentstereotype threatand hypothesize that the apprehension it causes may disrupt women's math performance. In Study 1 we demonstrated that the pattern observed in the literature that women underperform on difficult (but not easy) math tests was observed among a highly selected sample of men and women. In Study 2 we demonstrated that this difference in performance could be eliminated when we lowered stereotype threat by describing the test as not producing gender differences. However, when the test was described as producing gender differences and stereotype threat was high, women performed substantially worse than equally qualified men did. A third experiment replicated this finding with a less highly selected population and explored the mediation of the effect. The implication that stereotype threat may underlie gender differences in advanced math performance, even those that have been attributed to genetically rooted sex differences, is discussed.
This study follows in the tradition of Cullen, Hardison, and Sackett (2004) by testing the generalizability of stereotype threat theory findings from laboratory to applied settings. Like Cullen et al., the authors developed models of the pattern of relationships between Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) math scores and English grades that would be expected for math-identified and non-math-identified men and women if stereotype threat were operating to suppress the scores of math-identified women during SAT test administration. The study builds on Cullen et al. by creating an alternative measure of "identification" with the math domain that is premised on high school students' intention to major in math or a math-related discipline during college. Results using this alternative measure of identification were not supportive of predictions arising from stereotype threat theory, reinforcing Cullen et al.'s call for caution in generalizing stereotype threat theory lab findings to real-world testing environments.
This research investigates the hypothesis that the mere suggestion of sexism can harm women’s experience of an instruction situation. Across three experiments, women exposed to the suggestion about the sexism of a male instructor reported a less positive experience, performed worse on a logic test, and rated the instructor as less competent than did women who were not exposed to the suggestion. The same harmful consequences did not befall men, even when they were potential targets of the alleged sexism. To interpret results, the authors emphasize the concept of social identity threat: the concern that one will be the target not only of stereotypes about inferiority, but also a more general hostility based on a salient social identity. Results suggest the need to expand conceptions of discrimination to include systemic forms of identity threat that can be sufficient to produce harm, even in situations where differential treatment is initially absent.
It has long been argued that stigmatized individuals can ultimately internalize the stereotype alleging their inferiority. The present article investigated whether the internalization of the reputation of math inferiority that targets women can affect their math performance and whether this influence is caused by a disruption of working memory. A first study showed that stereotype endorsement had a significant impact on women’s statistic performance by lowering their self-evaluation of math ability even when controlling for prior achievement. A second study was designed to assess the possibility that the lower math performance displayed by women with low self-evaluation of math ability was due to interference in working memory. Using a dual task paradigm, this study showed that indeed women with low math self-evaluation displayed more errors and spent more time solving additions than women with high math self-evaluation, but mainly on difficult items of the dual task. The findings, which are congruent with an explanation in terms of a temporary disruption of working memory, are discussed.
Seemingly insignificant features of the context can undermine the quantitative performance of skilled females—an effect attributed to stereotype threat. The present studies tested the hypotheses that stereotype threat triggers arousal, and that attributions about that arousal could moderate the effects of stereotype threat on performance. To examine whether arousal is triggered by stereotype threat, we conducted two experiments in which female participants were asked to take a math test under conditions of stereotype threat or not. In Study 1, women under stereotype threat performed better on an easy threat-irrelevant task, but worse on a difficult threat-irrelevant task than women not under threat. In Study 2, threatened women underperformed on a math test, but this underperformance was attenuated for women directed to misattribute their arousal. These results suggest that arousal—and how arousal is attributed—may play an important role in the debilitating effects of stereotype threat.
In this companion volume John van Maanen's Tales of the Field, three scholars reveal how the ethnographer turns direct experience and observation into written fieldnotes upon which an ethnography is based. Drawing on years of teaching and field research experience, the authors develop a series of guidelines, suggestions, and practical advice about how to write useful fieldnotes in a variety of settings, both cultural and institutional. Using actual unfinished, "working" notes as examples, they illustrate options for composing, reviewing, and working fieldnotes into finished texts. They discuss different organizational and descriptive strategies, including evocation of sensory detail, synthesis of complete scenes, the value of partial versus omniscient perspectives, and of first person versus third person accounts. Of particular interest is the author's discussion of notetaking as a mindset. They show how transforming direct observations into vivid descriptions results not simply from good memory but more crucially from learning to envision scenes as written. A good ethnographer, they demonstrate, must learn to remember dialogue and movement like an actor, to see colors and shapes like a painter, and to sense moods and rhythms like a poet. The authors also emphasize the ethnographer's core interest in presenting the perceptions and meanings which the people studied attach to their own actions. They demonstrate the subtle ways that writers can make the voices of people heard in the texts they produce. Finally, they analyze the "processing" of fieldnotesâthe practice of coding notes to identify themes and methods for selecting and weaving together fieldnote excerpts to write a polished ethnography. This book, however, is more than a "how-to" manual. The authors examine writing fieldnotes as an interactive and interpretive process in which the researcher's own commitments and relationships with those in the field inevitably shape the character and content of those fieldnotes. They explore the conscious and unconscious writing choices that produce fieldnote accounts. And they show how the character and content of these fieldnotes inevitably influence the arguments and analyses the ethnographer can make in the final ethnographic tale. This book shows that note-taking is a craft that can be taught. Along with Tales of the Field and George Marcus and Michael Fisher's Anthropology as Cultural Criticism, Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes is an essential tool for students and social scientists alike.
Referential Practice is an anthropological study of language use in a contemporary Maya community. It examines the routine conversational practices in which Maya speakers make reference to themselves and to each other, to their immediate contexts, and to their world. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in Oxkutzcab, Yucatán, William F. Hanks develops a sociocultural approach to reference in natural languages. The core of this approach lies in treating speech as a social engagement and reference as a practice through which actors orient themselves in the world. The conceptual framework derives from cultural anthropology, linguistic pragmatics, interpretive sociology, and cognitive semantics. As his central case, Hanks undertakes a comprehensive analysis of deixisâlinguistic forms that fix reference in context, such as English I, you, this, that, here, and there. He shows that Maya deixis is a basic cultural construct linking language with body space, domestic space, agricultural and ritual practices, and other fields of social activity. Using this as a guide to ethnographic description, he discovers striking regularities in person reference and modes of participation, the role of perception in reference, and varieties of spatial orientation, including locative deixis. Traditionally considered a marginal area in linguistics and virtually untouched in the ethnographic literature, the study of referential deixis becomes in Hanks's treatment an innovative and revealing methodology. Referential Practice is the first full-length study of actual deictic use in a non-Western language, the first in-depth study of speech practice in Yucatec Maya culture, and the first detailed account of the relation between routine conversation, embodiment, and ritual discourse.