Interventions targeting both brilliance beliefs and belonging concerns to foster educational equity¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 6 claims (6 for) · 1 study (1 review), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 6 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article proposes that interventions should counter brilliance beliefs and simultaneously foster students' sense of belonging in academic environments. It states that "the present work identifies promising interventions that can contribute to educational equity by countering brilliance beliefs and, as a result, fostering students' sense of belonging in academic environments." Because the model treats belonging as the mediating mechanism, interventions aimed at sustained belonging among diverse students are positioned as the practical payoff of the framework.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Interventions must address both brilliance beliefs and belonging concerns, since the model locates belonging as the mediating mechanism

Constraints¶

• The article presents this as a roadmap for future work; specific intervention designs are outlined in a later section not included in the supplied text

Target Learners¶

• diverse students in brilliance-oriented educational contexts, especially intellectually stigmatized students

Target Learning Goals¶

• sustained sense of belonging
• educational equity in achievement and representation

Affordances¶

• Brilliance Belonging Model

Claims¶

• Perceived biased treatment linked to brilliance-oriented FABs explains a substantial portion of the gender gap in entry into brilliance-oriented fields [+W]
• Brilliance-oriented contexts heighten anxiety among intellectually stigmatized students [+W]
• Endorsement of brilliance-oriented FABs predicts lower self-efficacy among stigmatized students in brilliance-oriented contexts [+W]
• Brilliance cues reduce stigmatized students' interest and intrinsic motivation, with effects emerging by age 6–7 and persisting into adulthood [+W]
• Brilliance stereotypes associating brilliance with boys, higher-SES, and White children emerge by age 6 [+W]
• Field-specific ability beliefs are consensual cultural beliefs, acquired by early elementary school, that associate brilliance with fields like math more than language fields [+W]

Related Strategies¶

• Personalize the learning environment and instructional process to foster belonging
• Racial Equity in PBL - Create Beautiful Spaces
• Interventions should simultaneously enhance academic self-concept and achievement

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Christina A. Bauer, Aashna Poddar, Eddie Brummelman, & Andrei Cimpian. (2025). The Brilliance–Belonging Model: How Cultural Beliefs About Intellectual Ability Undermine Educational Equity. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-025-10034-2