Designing Strength-Based Learning Contexts to Support Students From Lower Socioeconomic Status Backgrounds

• In Event: Context Matters: Learning Environments' Impact When Motivational Interventions Are (or Aren't) Effective

Abstract

Theoretical Background
Strength-based approaches are gaining steam as an important tool for supporting students from lower-socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. These approaches recognize students’ lower-SES backgrounds as a frequent source of valuable strengths that can help them succeed in school and beyond. Recent empirical work grounded in identity-based motivation theory (Oyserman & Destin, 2010) demonstrates that guiding students from lower-SES backgrounds to adopt strength-based approaches positively affects their motivation, well-being, and persistence in school (Hernandez et al., 2021). The current study extends this research to examine whether the effects of a student-focused program grounded in strength-based approaches are moderated by features of the students’ academic contexts. More specifically, we share results from an ongoing research-practice partnership that demonstrates the importance of pairing student-focused programs with related educator initiatives to ensure that students are afforded equitable opportunities to excel in school (see also Silverman et al., 2023).
Methods
We recruited 16 first-year students from lower-SES backgrounds at a university in the southern U.S. to participate in a strength-based learning program. The program met weekly throughout the students’ first year and participated in activities ranging from identity reflection exercises to professional development workshops. Regardless of the topic they covered, each meeting focused on emphasizing the value and relevance of students’ lower-SES backgrounds for their academic success. In one of the initial meetings, for example, students discussed how their home communities could serve as sources of support that could help them overcome the normative challenges associated with the university transition.
Results and Significance
Longitudinal analyses from students’ first two years at the university indicate that students in the strength-based learning program earned grade-point-averages that were 11% higher than students in a propensity score matched control condition (β=0.21, p=.048; NObservations=128). Course-level analyses revealed that this relationship was qualified by an interaction such that the program only appeared to benefit students’ grades when they were enrolled in courses taught by educators who they believed viewed their lower-SES background as an asset to their success (i.e., who adopted strength-based approaches; β=0.27, p<.001; NObservations=498). Thus, we administered an eight-month-long learning community with 13 educators at the university to help them consider how they can authentically incorporate strength-based approaches in their classrooms. In both within-person and propensity score matched analyses, we found that the learning community not only increased educators’ self-efficacy to support students from lower-SES backgrounds, but also promoted their students’ perceptions that their educators took a strength-based approach to their lower-SES backgrounds, as well as students’ overall comfort in their courses (βs=0.10-0.45, ps=.023-<.001). In turn, students from lower-SES backgrounds earned grades that were almost half of a grade point higher in courses taught by educators who participated in the learning community compared to educators in a propensity score matched control condition (β=0.15, p=.025, 95% CI [0.01, 0.27]). Altogether, our work outlines the specific processes through which contexts shape students’ experiences—as proposed by identity-based motivation theory—while demonstrating the potential of working with these contexts to create more equitable education systems.

Authors

• David M. Silverman, Northwestern University

• Ivan A. Hernandez, San Diego State University

• Mesmin Destin, Northwestern University