“Our biggest challenge is stereotypes”: Understanding Stereotype Threat and the Academic Experiences of African American Undergraduates

Abstract

The Diverse Learning Environments (DLE) project was designed to contribute much needed knowledge about factors that impact the graduation and retention rates of African Americans and other diverse student populations in higher education. Funded by the Ford Foundation, the DLE explored how campus climate, campus policies, curricular and co-curricular environments, interplay and impact student outcomes. African Americans were the only group in the study to identify stereotypes and stereotype threat as the biggest barriers to their academic success. This article highlights the challenges African Americans face related to stereotypes and stereotype threat, and contends that interventions designed to improve the achievement and degree attainment of the group must focus on eliminating the power of stereotypes in college environments.Keywords: stereotypes, stereotype threat, degree progressRetaining and graduating students from four-year degree programs is a challenge many postsecondary institutions face nationwide. For years, researchers and practitioners have strived to uncover what factors contribute to students choosing to remain or depart from a college or university. Although the literature offers many insights as to what factors impede the degreecompletion of undergraduates, there has been very little change in the number of students that earned college degrees over the last 70-plus years (Adelman, 2004; Barton, 2002). This fact is evidence that much more research must be done to highlight what institutions can do to support students and increase their chances of graduating.African Americans in particular have one of the lowest retention and degree completion rates nationwide with only 42% earning their bachelor's degree within six years. The national average is 57 percent (U.S. Department of Education, 2009; Note: Data are from the 2001 cohort and includes all first-time, full-time, degree seeking students at all four-year institutions). The Diverse Learning Environments (DLE) project was designed to contribute much needed knowledge about factors that impact the trajectories of African Americans and other diverse student populations. Funded by the Ford Foundation and housed at the UCLA Higher Education Research Institute, the DLE specifically sought to comprehend how multiple factors such as campus climate, campus policies, curricular and co-curricular environments, interplay and impact student outcomes (Hurtado et al., 2012). Seven twoand four-year institutions participated in the project. Surveys were administered and focus groups were conducted at each campus. The data collected revealed many important findings about student experiences as they relate to degree completion and retention.One intriguing result came from the student focus groups. Of all the students interviewed at four-year institutions, African Americans were the only group to report struggles with stereotypes. In fact, they explicitly cited stereotypes and stereotype threat as the biggest barriers to their academic success. This finding is significant as stereotype threat has been linked to lower academic achievement and degree incompletion (Fischer, 2010; Steele, 1992, 1997). This article highlights the challenges African Americans face with stereotypes and stereotype threat, and contends that interventions designed to improve the achievement and degree attainment of the group must focus on eliminating the power of stereotypes in college environments.BACKGROUND LITERATUREThe following section presents literature that illuminates the meaning of stereotypes and the theory of stereotype threat. Key research findings are also highlighted, which reveal the impact stereotype threat has on the academic achievement of African American undergraduates.Stereotypes and Stereotype ThreatStereotypes can be defined as gross generalizations applied to a group of people with some level of shared characteristics. Gordon Allport brilliantly defined stereotypes as an exaggerated belief associated with a category . …