AHN, FG, and Transfer Students Face Many Challenges

Achievement gaps exist between White and AHN students, FG and CG students, and transfer and non-transfer students. The ultimate causes of these gaps are numerous, varied, and interrelated, but the primary proximal drivers of the achievement gaps are 1) lack of belongingness, 2) increased stress and anxiety, and 3) decreased engagement and performance. Instructors who wish to ensure the success of all students in their classrooms must acknowledge and address these proximal drivers of the achievement gaps.

Instructor Practices Can Reduce the Primary Drivers of the Achievement Gaps

College instructors have many evidence-based practices in their toolkit that they can use to decrease the achievement gaps in their classrooms. First, because bias and racism can directly or indirectly affect all three of the proximal drivers of the achievement gap, countering bias and racism is a necessary first step to ensure equity and inclusivity in the classroom. Instructors can combat the barriers created by bias and racism by promoting multiculturalism, preventing and responding to microaggressions, using microaffirmations, and by recognizing and reducing their own implicit biases. Instructors can combat the barriers created by bias and racism by promoting multiculturalism, preventing and responding to microaggressions, using microaffirmations, and by recognizing and reducing their own implicit biases.Once steps have been taken to counter bias and racism in the classroom, instructors can then turn their attention to addressing the three primary proximal drivers of the achievement gap: 1) lack of belonging, 2) increased stress and anxiety, and 3) decreased engagement and performance. There are many approaches that instructors can use to increase student belonging in their classrooms and a central pillar of these approaches is respect for students and concern for their wellbeing. Students feel that they belong in the classroom when instructors create a welcoming environment, treat students with respect, increase instructor immediacy and instructor-student rapport, increase student autonomy, and encourage student participation. It is difficult for students who are stressed or anxious to perform at their best. For this reason, instructors should work to reduce student stress and anxiety by preemptively discussing stress and anxiety coping strategies, using warm calling instead of cold calling, increasing deadline flexibility, reducing the number of high stakes exams, and by using humor in the classroom. In addition, both lack of belongingness and stress and anxiety can be reduced by framing adversity as common and temporary. Both lack of belongingness, and stress and anxiety can be reduced by framing adversity as common and temporary.  Lastly, in order to achieve the ultimate goal of reducing or eliminating the achievement gaps, instructors must work to increase student engagement and performance. All of the above approaches including countering bias and racism, increasing student belonging, and reducing stress and anxiety ultimately have the effect of improving student engagement and performance. That said, there are several additional things instructors can do to help their students succeed including using active learning, improving organization and structure, encouraging students to adopt a growth mindset, using real-world examples to increase interest and motivation, and by teaching effective studying techniques.

Psychosocial Interventions Can Help Reduce the Achievement Gaps

Some of the most effective strategies for countering the achievement gaps involve the use of psychosocial interventions. These psychosocial interventions all require students to engage in some sort of activity either inside or outside of class. These activities are typically short (~15 min to 1 hr) and only need to be done once to get long term benefits. One key aspect of psychosocial interventions is that students should not be told their true purpose if they are to be used most effectively. The effects of psychosocial interventions can be both powerful and long-lasting because they interrupt negative recursive behaviors; for example, a student who feels they do not belong is not likely to perform as well, and the poor scores they receive on assessments are likely to confirm their fears that they do not belong. This review discussed nine types of psychosocial interventions that instructors can use to combat achievement gaps; these interventions are summarized in Table 1.

Table 1. Psychosocial Interventions That Reduce the Achievement Gap. 

Conclusion

Instructors teach students, not topics, and therefore they have the responsibility to do whatever is in their power to improve student experiences and outcomes. They can work towards reducing the achievement gaps in their own classrooms by using, adapting, and building on the approaches detailed above. Most of these strategies and interventions are free and require only a small amount of time. Making an inclusive classroom is a lifelong process rather than a ‘one and done’ exercise. Making an inclusive classroom is a lifelong process rather than a ‘one and done’ exercise. Recommendations in the primary literature may change or become more refined with time. Instructors should collect and analyze their own student performance and opinion data to monitor the effectiveness of whatever interventions, activities, and strategies they are using. Because learning is a complex task, any individual intervention is not likely to have a large effect on student learning gains. By testing and (where appropriate) combining different interventions instructors can find the best way to eliminate the achievement gap in their classrooms.