Claude+Steele+Interview


 * 1) =====1. Full citation? =====

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“Interviews - Claude Steele | Secrets Of The Sat | FRONTLINE | PBS.” N. p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2014

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Steele, C.M. & Aronson, J. (1995). Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 797-811


 * 1) 2. Where are the author/s located, what are their backgrounds and what kinds of expertise do they have?


 * =====Claude Steele is not the author, but is the interviewee. He teaches social psychology at Stanford University, and received his PhD in psychology from Ohio State University in 1971. He has since received honorary degrees from the University of Michigan, the University of Chicago, Yale University, Princeton University, and from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. His research centers around the experience of the individual and on the experience of threats to the self and the consequences of those threats. =====


 * 1) =====3. List of at least three details or examples from the text that point to something important about culture, education and/or the challenge of environmental sustainability in the United States. =====


 * =====On a 25-item test (a portion of the GRE), African American students tended to score 4-5 points lower under stereotype threat. If this trend holds true for the entire exam, it creates a large score difference. =====
 * =====The stereotype threat is not limited to African Americans; it seems to also apply to women in STEM, or to any group when faced with the expectation of poor performance (i.e. a group of white men who are told that Asian students tend to score higher on the exam they are about to take). =====
 * =====When faced with the stereotype threat, individuals tend to disidentify with the subject matter. In other words, they cease to identify with the subject, and do not consider it an important factor in building their self-esteem. =====
 * =====It is often the students who strive to do well who are most affected by stereotype threat. =====


 * 1) 4. What three quotes capture the critical import of the text?
 * “It's important to stress that everybody experiences stereotype threat in some way or another because we're all members of one group or another that is negatively stereotyped in society. And whenever we're in a situation where those stereotypes apply, we too can experience this threat. From Methodists to white males. You could imagine a group of males talking to women for example about pay equity. The men might experience a sense of being threatened by the male stereotype, that they could be judged in terms of that stereotype or what they say could be interpreted that way. And in particular, for those who care about being seen equitably, that's going to be upsetting and disturbing. It might cause them to avoid that kind of situation or maybe to make slips of the tongue that would be embarrassing in that situation. That's an example of how it can affect, and does affect, everybody. The point that we're looking at in our research is stereotypes about groups for whom the stereotypes impugns their abilities. Could this kind of threat, this kind of distraction come to bear on their test performance, their standardized test performance? That's the heart of it.”
 *  We tend to think of standardized test scores, almost the term, standardized test, gives the image that this is a test that is standardized. It's fair for everybody. It is a fair and impartial measure of school potential, potential to succeed in school. And this research raises at least one source of concern about that, that different groups in the midst of those tests may be under different degrees of pressure, and their performance is likely to reflect that. And the gaps that we see are interpretable in those terms as opposed to differences of preparation or differences of ability.
 * Anybody can think of activities that they just don't care about that they know are important to other people but for them, their own feelings about themselves are not tied to that. Well, that's not being identified with something. And the sort of tragedy that we're pointing to in our research is that in reaction to a very systematic pressure in society like stereotype threat in a school domain, it can cause some groups to disidentify with very important domains of life like school achievement or to identify less with those domains because of this added threat in the domain.
 * As I say, that fact has not been wasted on me. And the area of standardized testing and intelligence testing has always been one of the most controversial areas of psychology for precisely that reason. It has often been used as a way of implementing racist intent, most recently with regard to blacks. But in the post-World War I wave of immigration it was used to screen out Southern Europeans, Jews, and other groups who did not score well on tests at that particular time. So it has, as a tool, a very, very racist past.


 * 1) =====5. What is the main argument of the text? =====
 * =====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The interview discusses Steele and his team’s work on developing the idea of the “stereotype threat.” The main argument of this work is that students who belong to certain groups (i.e. races, genders, etc.) facing a negative stereotype are less likely to perform well in certain situations where they feel that their performance is being evaluated through the lens of that stereotype. The example highlighted in this text is the performance of African American students on standardized tests. Black students tend to feel more pressure to defy the stereotypes associated with race and education, and therefore tend to do less well on these tests. The problem is made even worse when standardized tests are heavily weighted in evaluating the student’s overall academic ability, as well as in the admissions processes at colleges and universities. =====


 * 1) =====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">6. Describe at least three ways that the main argument is supported. =====
 * =====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Steele highlights the gap in test scores between black and white Americans (about 15 points on IQ tests, and about 100 points on the SATs). =====
 * =====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Steele also talks about the research that he and his team have done, which involved giving both black and white students a particularly difficult exam taken from the GREs and comparing performances in two different situations. First, students are told the test is diagnostic of abilities, and in the second scenario, they are told it is not diagnostic of ability. In the latter case, black students performed just as well as white students, while in the former, their scores were lower. =====
 * =====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The text also draws on the history of standardized testing, to show how, since it was first developed in the 19th century, standardized testing has been used to discriminate. As Steele put it, the SAT, “has, as a tool, a very, very racist past.” =====


 * 1) =====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">7. What parts of the argument did you find most and least persuasive, and why? =====
 * =====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I found the interview particularly interesting, as this is a phenomenon that I witnessed in my own school system. The discussion of disidentification was particularly compelling, because I do think this is something that we can see on a daily basis, within the current education system. However, his discussion of affirmative action seemed somewhat half-hearted, and left me wondering whether or not he supports the measure or not. He discusses his disappointment in opponents of affirmative action, but does not provide a clear link to his research in support of it. =====


 * 1) =====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">8. What kinds of corrective action are suggested by the text (either overt or implied)? =====
 * =====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Steele does not propose an alternative to standardized testing; he says we “simply don’t have” a way of accurately measuring a student’s overall ability. However, he does suggest that race does need to be considered in college admission. He makes the point that students face the stereotype threat throughout their k-12 education, so to assume that it will just disappear in time for the SATs and the college admissions process is ridiculous. =====


 * 1) =====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">9. Explain how the argument and evidence in the text relates to our effort to conceptualize, design and deliver EcoEd? =====
 * =====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In order to deliver EcoEd to all groups of students, we will have to deal with some of the stereotypes discussed in this interview. How do we take students who have “disidentified” with school, and get them interested in the material we are teaching them? =====
 * =====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It also is worth thinking about how we can help combat the stereotype threat. How can we make our material accessible and interesting to all groups of students? I think that perhaps by focusing on the interdisciplinary nature of the subject matter, we can engage students who would otherwise not identify with environmental issues. =====

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">10.What additional information has this text compelled you to seek out? (Describe what you learned in a couple of sentences, providing at least two supporting references). =====
 * =====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Steele mentions the racist history of standardized testing, and I felt compelled to seek out more information on this subject. It turns out that standardized tests were initially developed in the 1940s as a way of excluding Jewish students from Ivy League campuses. Also worth noting: the Kaplan test prep organization was started when Stanley Kaplan began designing techniques for these students, to help them “beat the test.” =====

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Additionally, there seems to be a lot of evidence linking standardized testing to eugenics. Apparently, the tests (at least in the U.S.) are rooted in the eugenics movement, as a way of determining racial inferiority. =====