Identity¶

Learner Variable · All learner variables
Evidence · 81 claims (64 show a difference, 14 mixed, 3 no difference) · 46 studies (16 review, 9 associational, 9 qualitative, 5 causal, 4 theoretical, 2 quant-synthesis, 1 design), q1–q4 · 2 of 46 report an effect size · 80 claims rest on one study

Description¶

Identity is a learner's sense of self and understanding of who they are, which shapes how they engage with the world. It begins forming in infancy, develops most intensely during adolescence, and keeps changing in adult life. Commonly named aspects include race, ethnicity, gender, cultural background, language and disability status. In early childhood children begin to form identities as they learn about themselves and their world; in middle childhood they come to understand social categories in more depth and start to take on social identities through interaction with peers and educators; in adolescence peers and social life take on more weight and learners navigate social spaces more independently. The LVN summaries tie identity to learning in three ways: a positive ethnic-racial identity is associated with achievement and self-esteem, it can buffer the harm of discrimination, and identity-based stereotypes can produce stereotype threat and weaken belonging. It is measured mainly with ethnic and racial identity scales for older children and adolescents. The group categories themselves are not causes of learning outcomes: see the wiki's pages on race and ethnicity and gender, where differences are read as reflecting circumstances and treatment. The LVN covers identity for pre-kindergarten to grade 12 only.

Implications¶

Context¶

Materials and examples that represent learners' identities, and diverse role models, support belonging.
Educators can help learners recognise and value their identities, and learn about them from families.
Discipline policies and everyday interactions can carry identity-based bias that learners experience as harm.

Target Learners¶

Children and adolescents, especially in adolescence when identity development peaks.
Learners from historically and systematically excluded groups, multilingual learners, and learners who are Deaf, hard of hearing or blind.

Target Learning Objectives¶

Belonging, self-esteem and self-efficacy.
Academic engagement and achievement.
Communication and collaboration across cultures.

Claims¶

A brief values-affirmation writing exercise raised African American seventh-graders' grades in two small field experiments, but a large same-district replication found no effect [~S] — an instructional effect differs with it
A regional collective initiative (Teaching is My Favorite Color) provided teachers of color a safe space, belonging, and authentic identity expression [+M] — instruction changes it
A teacher whose home culture was excluded from school brought her home culture into her teaching so students could express and maintain their identities [+W] — instruction changes it
Across nearly all race/ethnicity groups, transgender high school students report fewer school supports, lower safety, lower motivation, and lower connectedness than non-transgender peers [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Active learning reduces the examination-score achievement gap between minoritized-group and non-minoritized students in undergraduate STEM by 33% on average [+M] — an instructional effect differs with it
African American boys received out-of-school suspensions at five times the rate of white/Asian boys in CPS high schools in 2013-14 [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Interviewed introductory statistics students often described the subject as neutral, many saw the courseware's neutrality as appropriate, and some did not discern explicit racial or cultural inclusion in it [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Black and poor students are suspended from US schools at higher rates than White and nonpoor students [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Black students are suspended at the highest rate of any racial group, at 12% in 2017–18, with persistent disparities across all years analyzed [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Deeper-learning inquiry strategies in low-income mathematics classes reduced linguistic, ethnic, and class outcome disparities [+W] — an instructional effect differs with it
Hispanic adults valued culturally relevant visual design — bright colors, Hispanic representation, and realistic imagery — in lung cancer screening educational materials [+W] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Identity-centered making supports simultaneous STEM engagement and identity affirmation for queer youth [+M] — instruction changes it
In a pedagogical space, epistemic injustice might be activated when teachers' identity prejudice leads them to give a student less credit, and the curriculum can block or enable students' understanding and expression of their social experiences [+W] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
In unguided GenAI collaboration, ethnic minority preparatory students’ strategy talk co-occurred with passive sharing and uncritical acceptance, forming a plan-and-paste loop [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Intersecting identities compound suspension risk: 0.1% of Asian girls without special education services in elementary schools were suspended versus 27% of Black boys with disabilities in secondary schools [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Justice-oriented youth maker programs support redefinition of entrepreneurialism and resistance to structural misrecognition [+M] — instruction changes it
Learning happens best when students feel a sense of belonging, while alienation and exclusion create cognitive barriers [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Math tutoring programs may improve students' math confidence and sense of belonging [+W] — instruction changes it
Race prompts elicit culturally stereotyped feedback: Black, Hispanic, and Asian students are positioned through cultural or linguistic stereotypes while White students receive argument-structure feedback [+M] — an instructional effect differs with it
Sense of mathematics belonging predicts algebra learning, even after controlling for prior knowledge and background factors [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Shifting to restorative practices reduced exclusionary discipline and its racial disparities while improving climate and achievement [+M] — an instructional effect differs with it
Sociocultural learning theory holds that knowledge develops through engagement in social interaction with others, so English learners benefit from meaningful interaction with peers [+W] — an instructional effect differs with it
Teachers observe AI tools foster students' scientific identity and agency, shifting them from knowledge learners toward scientific practitioners [+M] — instruction changes it
Transgender students across all race/ethnicity groups report suicide ideation at 45–57%, versus no more than 20% of non-transgender students [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Transgender students are more than twice as likely as non-transgender peers to report bullying, harassment, and fear of physical violence [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Transgender students in every race/ethnicity group report harassment at least twice the rate of non-transgender peers (60%+ vs. 32% or less) [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Transgender, gay/lesbian, bisexual, and 'something else' students report significantly poorer outcomes than non-transgender and straight peers on all 14 measures [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Adolescents with achieved ERI status report the highest salience and centrality of ethnicity-race across situations [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Age moderates the discrimination–private regard relation: discrimination at Time 2 predicts lower private regard at Time 3 among late (17–18) but not middle adolescents [~M] — instruction changes it
Black girls across developmental stages reported awareness of stereotypes specific to Black girls and connected them to negative school experiences [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Black girls' awareness of difficulties navigating educational settings is coupled with parental support that promotes positive gendered racial identities [+M] — instruction changes it
ERI exploration becomes a salient component of identity development during adolescence as social-cognitive maturity increases [+M] — instruction changes it
Ethnic identity tends to follow an increasing trajectory across the middle-school years among ethnic minority youth [+M] — instruction changes it
Family ethnic socialization drives ERI in immigrant families, whereas youth ERI drives family socialization in U.S.-born families [~M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Family ethnic socialization shows high rank-order stability and significantly predicts youth ethnic identity across two years in the total sample [+M] — instruction changes it
Family nativity status moderates the direction of association between family ethnic socialization and youth ethnic identity [~M] — instruction changes it
For U.S.-born Mexican-origin youth with immigrant parents, family ethnic socialization predicts later ethnic identity but youth ethnic identity does not predict later family ethnic socialization (a family-driven process) [+M] — instruction changes it
For U.S.-born Mexican-origin youth with U.S.-born parents, youth ethnic identity predicts later family ethnic socialization but not vice versa (a youth-driven process) [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Hearing children are rated as more capable in reading and more socially successful than deaf children by both children and parents [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Middle school girls framed Blackness as celebratory culture while high school girls emphasized individual efforts to overcome negative portrayals [+M] — instruction changes it
No cross-lag effects were observed between racial discrimination and private regard in the full sample [-M] — instruction changes it
No cross-lag effects were observed between racial discrimination and racial centrality over three years [-M] — instruction changes it
No gender differences emerged in the associations between family ethnic socialization and ethnic identity [-M] — an instructional effect differs with it
Perceived discrimination is negatively related to later public regard, and low public regard buffers discrimination's impact on adjustment [~M] — an instructional effect differs with it
Perceived racial discrimination at Time 1 is negatively linked to public regard at Time 2 among African American adolescents [+M] — instruction changes it
Positive ethnic-racial affect is usually promotive but was linked to declining academic adjustment for Latino early adolescents in one study [~M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Public regard decreased linearly over time while reported discrimination dipped at Time 2 and rose again at Time 3 [+M] — instruction changes it
School belonging mediates the higher intrinsic motivation of Dominican children relative to European-American peers [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
School ethnic composition moderates change in ERI affirmation during adolescence [+M] — instruction changes it
The EI-to-FES path is significant only for U.S.-born families [~M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
The FES-to-EI path is significant for Mexico-born and mixed-nativity families but not for U.S.-born families [~M] — an instructional effect differs with it
Mastery orientation, value, belonging, self-efficacy, and SRL show small demographic differences by gender, ethnicity, and grade [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Opportunities to gain the agentive identity of “agents of change” are intertwined with a macro- and meso-level geopolitical matrix of power [+M] — instruction changes it
Students positioned as leaders thickened an “agents of change” identity by using surveys, data, and graphs to convince others, including teachers [+M] — instruction changes it
The institutionalized “ELL” label positioned labelled students as the Other, depriving them of access to agentive participation in the unit [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Anonymity in computer-mediated collaboration can produce a stronger group identity than non-anonymous face-to-face situations [+M] — instruction changes it
Bicultural identity and integration-type acculturation attitudes are most conducive to minority students' school success, with weak or inconsistent associations for ethnic identification alone [~M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Negative stereotype salience combined with high ethnic self-identification inhibits academic performance, while positive stereotypes facilitate it [+M] — an instructional effect differs with it
Daily diary evidence links lower daily self-concept fit to stronger same-day mental burnout and concerns about academic abilities [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Qualitative research shows marginalized students' sense of belonging depends on maintaining connections to their valued identities at school (self-concept fit) [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Social identity threat impairs math performance via increased intrusive thoughts and working memory load (being-cognition disfluency) [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Belonging mediates the relationship between racial/ethnic identity and both academic achievement and emotional symptoms [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Belongingness is more strongly associated with academic achievement among marginalized students than among white students [~M] — an instructional effect differs with it
Racially marginalized students are less likely to report a sense of belonging in STEM education [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Participating in team-based professional development changed how higher education teachers perceived themselves and their role as teachers [+M] — instruction changes it
Demographic moderators (child gender, parent gender, ethnicity, sample type, socio-economic status) show limited moderating effects on the self-efficacy–partnership association [~M] — an instructional effect differs with it
Sense of belonging to mathematics is positively related to algebraic thinking in reviewed studies [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Campus symbols such as antebellum architecture signal belonging to White and high-SES students and unwelcomeness to marginalized students [+M] — an instructional effect differs with it
Teacher-assigned grades are susceptible to systematic biases, including halo effects and ethnicity-based grading differences (review-reported) [+W] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Adolescents' self-understandings are informed by their perceptions of teacher expectations, which may differ across student groups [+M] — instruction changes it
Explorative learning experiences can be organized in three forms — in-breadth, in-depth, and reflective — to intentionally support identity development [+M] — instruction changes it
In-breadth explorative learning experiences, especially on-site and hands-on activities, invite adolescents to adopt new interests and try out new identity positions [+M] — instruction changes it
Peer norms can deny access to identity positions and stigmatize positions adolescents would otherwise take up [+M] — instruction changes it
Schools and teachers unintentionally communicate identity messages to adolescents through the hidden curriculum [+M] — instruction changes it
Selection practices and differentiation shape adolescents' identities, but evidence on tracking's role in identity development remains inconclusive [~M] — instruction changes it
Shallow multiculturalism undermines Latinx students' belonging by reinforcing intersectional invisibility [+M] — instruction changes it
Fixed mindset peer cultures are theorized to erode belonging via identity threat, especially for minoritized students [~W] — an instructional effect differs with it
Minoritized students reported lower belonging where peers endorsed more fixed mindset beliefs, with an asymmetric pattern [+M] — an instructional effect differs with it
Sense of belonging in learning contexts is robustly associated with psychological well-being, academic motivation, and academic performance [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
The belonging–outcome association is stronger in some cultural groups than others: reported moderation by ethnicity and by individualism–collectivism [~W] — an instructional effect differs with it
Identity- or bias-based harassment shows negative social-emotional and academic consequences over and above general victimization [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes

Measures¶

Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure, Revised (MEIM-R) (Phinney & Ong, 2007): a brief survey of affiliation with one's ethnic group for older elementary students and adolescents.
Ethnic Identity Scale (Umaña-Taylor et al., 2004): a 17-item scale of ethnic identity exploration, resolution and affirmation.
Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity, Teen (MIBI-T) (Scottham et al., 2008): a 21-item scale of the centrality, regard and ideology of racial identity.
Cross Racial Identity Scale (CRIS) (Vandiver et al., 2000): assesses six racial identity attitudes.
Ethnic Racial Identity Formation (Ikura et al., 2021): a brief on early-childhood identity that discusses measurement.

Stereotype Threat: learners from stigmatised groups may be more aware of stereotypes and so more exposed to threat.
Belonging: stereotypes and lack of representation can undercut belonging, and diverse schools can support it.
Home Learning Environment: families teach children about their culture and identity, including through ethnic-racial socialisation.
Adverse Experiences: discrimination can be experienced as racial trauma, and a positive identity can buffer it.
Social Supports: what effective support looks like varies with culture, and support protects against discrimination.
English-Learner Status: many learners hold their first language as central to their ethnic identity.
Self-Efficacy: a strong ethnic-racial identity goes with higher self-esteem.
Affect Regulation: identity-based discrimination can harm mental health, and a strong identity helps buffer it.
Academic and Critical Literacy: a positive ethnic-racial identity is associated with achievement.
Communication Skills: language varieties and home languages are part of identity and shape communication.
Access: Deaf, hard-of-hearing and blind learners may hold these as important parts of who they are.
Socioeconomic Status: structural inequality means excluded groups are over-represented in low-income homes.

Examples¶

Key Sources¶

Digital Promise. Learner Variability Navigator: Identity (Portrait of a Learner 4-8, Portrait of a Learner 9-12, Portrait of a Learner PK-3). lvp.digitalpromiseglobal.org. Licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

Page metadata

Field	Value
`type`	`learner-variable`
`id`	`identity`
`title`	`Identity`
`description`	`A learner's developing sense of who they are, including the social identities, such as race, ethnicity, gender, culture, language and disability, that shape how they meet the world.`
`status`	`review`
`canonical`	`True`
`generated`	by `claude/unspecified` on `2026-10-16`
`trust`	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content

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