Feature African American contributions and successful role models prominently in the school curriculum to support motivation and buffer stereotype effects¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 3 claims (2 for, 1 mixed) · 1 study (1 associational), q3 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 3 claims rest on one study

Description¶

In its closing recommendations the article proposes that "Schools in which the manifold contributions of African Americans are a prominent part of the curriculum and that feature successful African American role models are likely to lead both to enhanced academic motivation among Black students while simultaneously creating an environment that minimizes the potential negative effects of race stereotypes." The strategy pairs curricular representation of African American contributions with visible successful role models as a school-level approach to motivation and stereotype buffering.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Curriculum must make African American contributions a prominent part of instruction and feature successful African American role models

Constraints¶

• The article offers this as a likely benefit, not a tested manipulation; no data in the article evaluate the strategy directly

Target Learners¶

• African American middle school students

Target Learning Goals¶

• Academic motivation and resilience against negative race stereotype effects on self-perceptions

Claims¶

• Among African American eighth graders high in racial centrality, stronger endorsement of the traditional academic race stereotype is associated with lower academic self-concept, controlling achievement and demographics (Study 1) [+W]
• In an independent seventh-grade sample, stereotype endorsement predicted lower academic self-concept at average and high racial centrality but not at low centrality (Study 2 replication) [+W]
• Racial centrality plays different roles across outcomes: protective against discrimination's effects on mental health but a vulnerability factor for stereotype effects on self-perceptions [~M]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Okeke, N. A., Howard, L. C., Kurtz-Costes, B., & Rowley, S. J. (2009). Academic race stereotypes, academic self-concept, and racial centrality in African American youth. Journal of Black Psychology, 35(3), 366–387. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095798409333615