What If Coleman Had Known About Stereotype Threat? How Social-Psychological Theory Can Help Mitigate Educational Inequality

The Coleman Report has inspired various lines of inquiry offering new understandings of inequality of educational opportunity and the persistent achievement gaps in American schools. Of the various models and theories, stereotype threat, which focuses on social-psychological dimensions of inequality, has received considerable attention over the past twenty years. But what if stereotype threat theory, and associated interventions to combat it, had existed fifty years ago? Using data from the original Equality of Educational Opportunity Study, we find, consistent with the stereotype threat literature, that African American students confronted with more threatening educational contexts are burdened by a less favorable self-image; this finding partially explains how students’ internalization of racial stereotypes depresses their test scores. Based on these findings and on results from numerous laboratory and field experiments documenting the impact of stereotype threat and how to mitigate it, we explore its usefulness for studying educational inequality in the years to come

Replication Data and Code

These files contain the data and code necessary to replicate our analyses for this projec

A Community-Response Approach to Mental-Health and Substance-Abuse Crises Reduced Crime

Police officers often serve as first responders to mental-health and substance-abuse crises. Concerns over the unintended consequences and high costs associated with this approach have motivated new emergency-response models that augment or completely remove police involvement. However, there is little causal evidence evaluating these programs. This pre-registered study presents quasi-experimental evidence on the impact of an innovative “community response” pilot in Denver that directed targeted emergency calls to health-care responders instead of the police. We find robust evidence that the program reduced reports of targeted, less serious crimes (e.g., trespassing, public disorder, resisting arrest) by 34 percent and had no detectable effect on more serious crimes. The sharp reduction in targeted crimes reflects both that health-focused first responders are less likely to report individuals they serve as criminal offenders and the program’s spillover benefits (e.g., reducing crime during hours when it was not in operation)

Reappraising academic and social adversity improves middle school students’ academic achievement, behavior, and well-being

The period of early adolescence is characterized by dramatic changes, simultaneously affecting physiological, psychological, social, and cognitive development. The physical transition from elementary to middle school can exacerbate the stress and adversity experienced during this critical life stage. Middle school students often struggle to find social and emotional support, and many students experience a decreased sense of belonging in school, diverting students from promising academic and career trajectories. Drawing on psychological insights for promoting belonging, we fielded a brief intervention designed to help students reappraise concerns about fitting in at the start of middle school as both temporary and normal. We conducted a district-wide double-blind experimental study of this approach with middle school students (n = 1,304). Compared with the control condition activities, the intervention reduced sixth-grade disciplinary incidents across the district by 34%, increased attendance by 12%, and reduced the number of failing grades by 18%. Differences in benefits across demographic groups were not statistically significant, but some impacts were descriptively larger for historically underserved minority students and boys. A mediational analysis suggested 80% of long-term intervention effects on students' grade point averages were accounted for by changes in students' attitudes and behaviors. These results demonstrate the long-term benefits of psychologically reappraising stressful experiences during critical transitions and the psychological and behavioral mechanisms that support them. Furthermore, this brief intervention is a highly cost-effective and scalable approach that schools may use to help address the troubling decline in positive attitudes and academic outcomes typically accompanying adolescence and the middle school transition