Closing the Social Class Achievement Gap for First-Generation Students in Undergraduate Biology.

Many students start college intending to pursue a career in the biosciences, but too many abandon this goal because they struggle in introductory biology. Interventions have been developed to close achievement gaps for underrepresented minority students and women, but no prior research has attempted to close the gap for first-generation students, a population that accounts for nearly a fifth of college students. We report a values affirmation intervention conducted with 798 U.S. students (154 first-generation) in an introductory biology course for majors. For first-generation students, values affirmation significantly improved final course grades and retention in the second course in the biology sequence, as well as overall GPA for the semester. This brief intervention narrowed the achievement gap between first-generation and continuing generation students for course grades by 50% and increased retention in a critical gateway course by 20%. Our results suggest that educators can expand the pipeline for first-generation students to continue studying in the biosciences with psychological interventions.

[1]  T. Claire,et al.  Extending the Concept of Stereotype Threat to Social Class: The Intellectual Underperformance of Students from Low Socioeconomic Backgrounds , 1998 .

[2]  Class Awareness in the United States. , 1985 .

[3]  Ernest T. Pascarella,et al.  How college affects students : findings and insights from twenty years of research , 1992 .

[4]  Selcuk R. Sirin.  Socioeconomic Status and Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analytic Review of Research , 2005 .

[5]  Valerie Purdie-Vaughns,et al.  Chronic threat and contingent belonging: protective benefits of values affirmation on identity development. , 2012, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[6]  J. Croizet,et al.  Socioeconomic Status and Intelligence: Why Test Scores Do Not Equal Merit , 2004 .

[7]  Valerie Purdie-Vaughns,et al.  Recursive Processes in Self-Affirmation: Intervening to Close the Minority Achievement Gap , 2009, Science.

[8]  Sean F. Reardon.  The widening academic achievement gap between the rich and the poor , 2011 .

[9]  G. Walton,et al.  Latent Ability , 2009, Psychological science.

[10]  J. McCaffrey.  Redirect: The surprising new science of psychological change, by Timothy D. Wilson , 2012 .

[11]  Rodger W. Bybee,et al.  Preparing the 21st century workforce: A new reform in science and technology education , 2006 .

[12]  Valerie Purdie-Vaughns,et al.  Demystifying Values-Affirmation Interventions , 2013, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[13]  H. Markus,et al.  A cultural mismatch: Independent cultural norms produce greater increases in cortisol and more negative emotions among first-generation college students , 2012 .

[14]  Chris S. Hulleman,et al.  Promoting Interest and Performance in High School Science Classes , 2009, Science.

[15]  Christina Gloeckner.  Unequal Childhoods Class Race And Family Life , 2016 .

[16]  Annette Lareau,et al.  American Educational Research Association From Social Ties to Social Capital : Class Differences in the Relations between Schools and Parent Networks , 2008 .

[17]  J. Ostrove,et al.  Social Class and Belonging: Implications for College Adjustment , 2007 .

[18]  David C. Haak,et al.  Increased Structure and Active Learning Reduce the Achievement Gap in Introductory Biology , 2011, Science.

[19]  C. Steele,et al.  Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. , 1995, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[20]  T. van Amelsvoort.  Bridging the Gap , 2014, Tijdschrift voor psychiatrie.

[21]  Jeffrey Mervis,et al.  Grand challenge: undergraduate teaching. Transformation is possible if a university really cares. , 2013, Science.

[22]  Ernest T. Pascarella,et al.  How college affects students , 1991 .

[23]  Derek C. Briggs,et al.  Impact of Undergraduate Science Course Innovations on Learning , 2011, Science.

[24]  Selcuk R. Sirin.  Socioeconomic status and academic achievement , 2005 .

[25]  Valerie A. Ramey,et al.  The Rug Rat Race , 2009 .

[26]  Mary Lee S. Ledbetter,et al.  Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action Presentation to Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, July 2011 , 2012, Journal of undergraduate neuroscience education : JUNE : a publication of FUN, Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience.

[27]  Joshua Aronson,et al.  PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Research Article The Ups and Downs of Attributional Ambiguity Stereotype Vulnerability and the Academic Self-Knowledge of African American College Students , 2022 .

[28]  E. M. Tobin,et al.  Equity and Excellence in American Higher Education , 2005 .

[29]  Edward I. Greenberg,et al.  English literacy and language minorities in the U , 2001 .

[30]  Marie-Christine Toczek-Capelle,et al.  Reducing the Socio-Economic Status Achievement Gap at University by Promoting Mastery-Oriented Assessment , 2013, PloS one.

[31]  Roger A. Sugden,et al.  Multiple Imputation for Nonresponse in Surveys , 1988 .

[32]  W. Klein,et al.  Experimental manipulations of self-affirmation: A systematic review , 2006 .

[33]  A. Monty,et al.  The consequences of stereotype threat on the academic performance of White and non-White lower income college students , 2006 .

[34]  Kristopher J Preacher,et al.  SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models , 2004, Behavior research methods, instruments, & computers : a journal of the Psychonomic Society, Inc.

[35]  Jonathan Guryan,et al.  Parental Education and Parental Time with Children , 2008 .

[36]  Tammy M. Long,et al.  Just the Facts? Introductory Undergraduate Biology Courses Focus on Low-Level Cognitive Skills , 2010, CBE life sciences education.

[37]  S. Spencer,et al.  Contending with group image: The psychology of stereotype and social identity threat , 2002 .

[38]  Catherine Good,et al.  Why do women opt out? Sense of belonging and women's representation in mathematics. , 2012, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[39]  D. Cole,et al.  Children's over- and underestimation of academic competence: a longitudinal study of gender differences, depression, and anxiety. , 1999, Child development.

[40]  Stephanie A. Fryberg,et al.  Unseen disadvantage: how American universities' focus on independence undermines the academic performance of first-generation college students. , 2012, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[41]  Emanuele Castano,et al.  Social Class is Dead. Long Live Social Class! Stereotype Threat among Low Socioeconomic Status Individuals , 2007 .

[42]  Stephanie A. Fryberg,et al.  Social class disparities in health and education: reducing inequality by applying a sociocultural self model of behavior. , 2012, Psychological review.

[43]  Michael Johns,et al.  Combating stereotype threat: The effect of self-affirmation on women's intellectual performance. , 2006 .

[44]  Catherine Good,et al.  When White Men Can't Do Math: Necessary and Sufficient Factors in Stereotype Threat , 1999 .

[45]  Leif D. Nelson,et al.  Do Messages about Health Risks Threaten the Self? Increasing the Acceptance of Threatening Health Messages Via Self-Affirmation , 2000 .

[46]  Ernest T. Pascarella,et al.  First-generation college students: Characteristics, experiences, and cognitive development , 1996 .

[47]  Chris S. Hulleman,et al.  Helping Parents to Motivate Adolescents in Mathematics and Science , 2012, Psychological science.

[48]  S. Spencer,et al.  Prejudice as self-image maintenance: Affirming the self through derogating others , 1997 .

[49]  Geoffrey L. Cohen,et al.  A question of belonging: race, social fit, and achievement. , 2007, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[50]  Timothy D. Wilson,et al.  Redirect: The Surprising New Science of Psychological Change , 2011 .

[51]  M. Leary,et al.  Reactions to discrimination, stigmatization, ostracism, and other forms of interpersonal rejection: a multimotive model. , 2009, Psychological review.

[52]  D. Rubin.  Multiple imputation for nonresponse in surveys , 1989 .

[53]  Geoffrey L. Cohen,et al.  An identity threat perspective on intervention. , 2012 .

[54]  Sara Goldrick-Rab,et al.  What Higher Education Has to Say about the Transition to College , 2007, Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education.

[55]  Edward C. Warburton,et al.  Bridging the Gap: Academic Preparation and Postsecondary Success of First-Generation Students. Statistical Analysis Report. Postsecondary Education Descriptive Analysis Reports. , 2001 .

[56]  Claude M. Steele,et al.  DISSONANCE PROCESSES AS SELF-AFFIRMATION , 1983 .

[57]  R. Murnane,et al.  Whither Opportunity?: Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children's Life Chances , 2011 .

[58]  Lisa S. Blackwell,et al.  Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: a longitudinal study and an intervention. , 2007, Child development.

[59]  Roland M. Schulz.  Reforming Science Education: Part I. The Search for a Philosophy of Science Education , 2009 .

[60]  Traci Mann,et al.  Affirmation of Personal Values Buffers Neuroendocrine and Psychological Stress Responses , 2005, Psychological science.

[61]  C. Steele.  A threat in the air. How stereotypes shape intellectual identity and performance. , 1997, The American psychologist.

[62]  A. Russell,et al.  Reducing the Gender Achievement Gap in College Science: A Classroom Study of Values Affirmation , 2010 .

[63]  Geoffrey L. Cohen,et al.  The Psychology of Self‐defense: Self‐Affirmation Theory , 2006 .

[64]  M. Orr,et al.  Transitions to College: Lessons from the Disciplines , 2007, Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education.

[65]  Valerie Purdie-Vaughns,et al.  Deflecting the trajectory and changing the narrative: how self-affirmation affects academic performance and motivation under identity threat. , 2013, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[66]  Geoffrey L. Cohen,et al.  Reducing the Racial Achievement Gap: A Social-Psychological Intervention , 2006, Science.

[67]  Gregory M. Walton,et al.  A Brief Social-Belonging Intervention Improves Academic and Health Outcomes of Minority Students , 2011, Science.

[68]  E. Finkel,et al.  Middle class and marginal? Socioeconomic status, stigma, and self-regulation at an elite university. , 2011, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[69]  Debra P. Bunyan,et al.  Psychological vulnerability and stress: the effects of self-affirmation on sympathetic nervous system responses to naturalistic stressors. , 2009, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[70]  H. Markus,et al.  You Can ’ t Always Get What You Want : Educational Attainment , Agency , and Choice , 2005 .