TY - JOUR
T1 - Closing the Social-Class Achievement Gap
T2 - A Difference-Education Intervention Improves First-Generation Students' Academic Performance and All Students' College Transition
AU - Stephens, Nicole M.
AU - Hamedani, Mar Yam G.
AU - Destin, Mesmin
PY - 2014/4
Y1 - 2014/4
N2 - College students who do not have parents with 4-year degrees (first-generation students) earn lower grades and encounter more obstacles to success than do students who have at least one parent with a 4-year degree (continuing-generation students). In the study reported here, we tested a novel intervention designed to reduce this social-class achievement gap with a randomized controlled trial (N = 168). Using senior college students' real-life stories, we conducted a difference-education intervention with incoming students about how their diverse backgrounds can shape what they experience in college. Compared with a standard intervention that provided similar stories of college adjustment without highlighting students' different backgrounds, the difference-education intervention eliminated the social-class achievement gap by increasing first-generation students' tendency to seek out college resources (e.g., meeting with professors) and, in turn, improving their end-of-year grade point averages. The difference-education intervention also improved the college transition for all students on numerous psychosocial outcomes (e.g., mental health and engagement).
AB - College students who do not have parents with 4-year degrees (first-generation students) earn lower grades and encounter more obstacles to success than do students who have at least one parent with a 4-year degree (continuing-generation students). In the study reported here, we tested a novel intervention designed to reduce this social-class achievement gap with a randomized controlled trial (N = 168). Using senior college students' real-life stories, we conducted a difference-education intervention with incoming students about how their diverse backgrounds can shape what they experience in college. Compared with a standard intervention that provided similar stories of college adjustment without highlighting students' different backgrounds, the difference-education intervention eliminated the social-class achievement gap by increasing first-generation students' tendency to seek out college resources (e.g., meeting with professors) and, in turn, improving their end-of-year grade point averages. The difference-education intervention also improved the college transition for all students on numerous psychosocial outcomes (e.g., mental health and engagement).
KW - culture
KW - higher education
KW - intervention
KW - social class
KW - sociocultural factors
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84898886134&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84898886134&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0956797613518349
DO - 10.1177/0956797613518349
M3 - Article
C2 - 24553359
AN - SCOPUS:84898886134
SN - 0956-7976
VL - 25
SP - 943
EP - 953
JO - Psychological Science
JF - Psychological Science
IS - 4
ER -