About Values Affirmation and Goal Setting
The achievement gap between different groups of students may result from stereotype threat, in which students feel they are at risk of conforming to stereotypes about their social group. Values affirmations can help counter stereotype threat by reinforcing a student's feelings of integrity and self-worth.
Similarly, helping students with goal setting can help direct their attention toward goal-relevant activities and away from goal-irrelevant activities, improving their capacity for self-regulation.
Further Resources and References
- Study finds simple interventions can help certain online learners persist Links to an external site.
- Values Affirmation Intervention Reduces Achievement Gap between Underrepresented Minority and White Students in Introductory Biology Classes Links to an external site.
- Reducing the Racial Achievement Gap: A Social-Psychological Intervention Links to an external site.
- The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention Links to an external site.
- Improving performance and retention in introductory biology with a utility-value intervention Links to an external site.
- Goal Setting Intervention
- Will My Students Actually Want to Do This Assignment? Links to an external site.
- Setting, elaborating, and reflecting on personal goals improves academic performance Links to an external site.
- A scalable goal-setting intervention closes both the gender and ethnic minority achievement gap Links to an external site.
- Goal Setting and Raising the Bar: A Field Experiment Links to an external site.
- Telling Their Own Stories Links to an external site.