Access2Success Curriculum Resources

Below is a brief list of empirically validated strategies to reduce stereotype threat. For reviews of these strategies, see:

Cohen, G. L., Purdie-Vaughns, V., Garcia, J. (2012). An identity threat perspective on intervention. In Stereotype threat (Inzlicht, Schmader, Eds.). (downloadable here: http://ed.stanford.edu/faculty/glc )
Garcia, J., & Cohen, G. L. (in press). A social-psychological approach to educational intervention. In Behavioral foundations of policy (Shafir, Ed.) (downloadable here: http://ed.stanford.edu/faculty/glc
Steele, D. M. (2012). Creating identity safe classrooms. In J. A. Banks (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Diversity in Education. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Reduce prejudice (Logel et al., 2009)
Remove physical cues that make it seem that a school setting is defined by the majority group (Cheryan et al, 2009)
Don’t ask people to report a negatively stereotyped group identity immediately before taking a test (Steele & Aronson, 1995; Danaher & Crandall, 2008)

For Instance, communicate a multicultural idealogy that explicitly values diversity (Purdie-Vaughns et al., 2008)

Increase the visibility and representation of people from minority groups in a field (Murphy et al., 2007; Purdie-Vaughns et al., 2008)
Among test-takers (Inzlicht & Ben-Zeev, 2000)
And in positions of authority (e.g., among teachers; Carrell et al., 2010; Dee, 2004; Massey & Fischer, 2005)

Use gender- and race-fair tests, communicate their fairness, convey that they are being used to facilitate learning, not to measure innate ability or reify stereotypes (Good et al., 2008; Spencer et al., 1999; Steele & Aronson, 1995)

Increase the visibility and representation of people from minority groups in a field (Murphy et al., 2007; Purdie-Vaughns et al., 2008)
Among test-takers (Inzlicht & Ben-Zeev, 2000)
And in positions of authority (e.g., among teachers; Carrell et al., 2010; Dee, 2004; Massey & Fischer, 2005)

Foster better intergroup relations (Mendoza-Denton & Page-Gould, 2008; Steele, 1997; Walton & Carr, 2012)
Remind students of similarities among groups (Rosenthal & Crisp, 2006)
Undo stereotypical associations through cognitive retraining (Forbes & Schmader, 2010)
Promote cooperative classrooms (Aronson & Patnoe, 1997; Cohen, 1994)

Expose students to successful role models from their group who refute negative stereotypes (Marx & Goff, 2005; Marx & Roman, 2002; McIntyre et al., 2003)

Teach students about stereotype threat so that they attribute anxiety to stereotype threat rather than to the risk of failure (Johns et al., 2005)
Teach students to reappraise arousal as a potential facilitator of strong performance rather than barrier to it (Johns et al., 2008)

Teach students that worries about belonging in school are normal, not unique to them or their group, and are transient rather than fixed (Walton & Cohen, 2007, 2011)

Frame critical feedback as reflective of high standards and one’s confidence in students’ ability to meet those standards (Cohen & Steele, 2002; Cohen et al., 1999)
More generally, teach students to view critical feedback as reflective of feedback-givers’ high standards and confidence in their ability to meet the standards (Yeager et al., 2011)

Teach students that intelligence is like a muscle—that it is not fixed, but grows with effort (Aronson et al., 2002; Blackwell et al., 2007). Promote this conception of intelligence or ability as a norm.

Have students write about, reflect on, and perhaps discuss core personal values (Cohen et al., 2006, 2009; Martens et al., 2006; Miyake et al., 2010)