Scaling a Self-Affirmation Intervention During the Context of the Pandemic: Impacts Across Two Nationwide Cohorts

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session Four
  In Roundtable Session: Targeting Interventions to At-Risk Students in Schools (Table 1)

Abstract

Black and Latinx students are subject to stereotype threat in school settings in which they face threats of being judged by negative societal biases about the academic underperformance of their racial/ethnic group. This national randomized controlled trial tested impacts of receiving a series of 15-minute writing exercises designed to buffer students of color from harmful stereotypes. Replicating prior studies, we assessed impacts on seventh-grade GPA outcomes, attendance rates, and suspension counts. Results from the two cohorts, both of which received the intervention during the pandemic, revealed no overall main effects or specific impacts for Black and Latinx students. This raises questions regarding the potential for such interventions to produce impacts during unusual circumstances such as pandemics and widespread societal injustices.

Authors

• Geoffrey D. Borman, Arizona State University
  Presenting Author

• Trisha Borman, American Institutes for Research
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sarah Peko-Spicer, American Institutes for Research
  Non-Presenting Author

• Cong Ye, American Institutes for Research
  Non-Presenting Author