Improving Educational Achievement For Racial Minorities

Introduction

" This paper will assess previous research in order to conduct an intervention that will help Improve educational achievement for racial minorities. Although white children experience difficulties within the educational system, racial minorities are far more subjected to feelings of inferiority and stress. This intervention will be expected to provide racial minorities with a better sense of belonging and a better chance to succeed in schools.

" There are two ways in which play an important role in influencing academic success in students. The first is that of the attitudes of the students themselves and how they see themselves in the academic setting. The second way is the attitudes of the teachers which can make a large impact

Argument 1: how student attitudes affect performance

" This paragraph will describe in further detail how the attitudes of students can affect their academic achievement in a school setting.

" The belief that one can be judged based on their race can lead to high stress levels and cause performance in schools to decrease (Cohen et al., 2009)

" It is essential to have the social support that is required to gain a sense of belonging within one's social group, when people are unsure of where they belong in a social group or if they think that they do not have any social support, they are likely to have a lower level of achievement

Argument 2: how teacher attitudes affect students' performance

" Self-fulfilling prophecy: an expectation about a belief that one causes to come true and are reflected through their behaviour (text book)

" Studies show that teachers tend to judge students based on their expectations about them. Therefore, they are likely to fall into believing that stereotypes that exist are really true and their treatment will reflect these attitudes (Van den Bergh, Denessen, Hornstra, Voeten, and Holland,