Study Sees an Obama Effect as Lifting Black Test-Takers

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Study Sees an Obama Effect as Lifting Black Test-Takers

Posted: 1/23/2009 11:34:21 PM EDT

By SAM DILLON
Published: January 22, 2009

Educators and policy makers, including Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, have said in recent days that they hope President Obama’s example as a model student could inspire millions of American students, especially blacks, to higher academic performance.

Now researchers have documented what they call an Obama effect, showing that a performance gap between African-Americans and whites on a 20-question test administered before Mr. Obama’s nomination all but disappeared when the exam was administered after his acceptance speech and again after the presidential election.

The inspiring role model that Mr. Obama projected helped blacks overcome anxieties about racial stereotypes that had been shown, in earlier research, to lower the test-taking proficiency of African-Americans, the researchers conclude in a report summarizing their results.

“Obama is obviously inspirational, but we wondered whether he would contribute to an improvement in something as important as black test-taking,” said Ray Friedman, a management professor at Vanderbilt University, one of the study’s three authors. “We were skeptical that we would find any effect, but our results surprised us.”

The study has not yet undergone peer review, and two academics who read it on Thursday said they would be interested to see if other researchers would be able to replicate its results.

Dr. Friedman and his fellow researchers, David M. Marx, a professor of social psychology at San Diego State University, and Sei Jin Ko, a visiting professor in management and organizations at Northwestern, have submitted their study for review to The Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Dr. Friedman said.

“It’s a very small sample, but certainly a provocative study,” said Ronald F. Ferguson, a Harvard professor who studies the factors that have affected the achievement gap between white and nonwhite students, which shows up on nearly every standardized test. “There is a certainly a theoretical foundation and some empirical support for the proposition that Obama’s election could increase the sense of competence among African-Americans, and it could reduce the anxiety associated with taking difficult test questions.”

Researchers in the last decade assembled university students with identical SAT scores and administered tests to them, discovering that blacks performed significantly poorer when asked at the start to fill out a form identifying themselves by race. The researchers attributed those results to anxiety that caused them to tighten up during exams in which they risked confirming a racial stereotype.

In the study made public on Thursday, Dr. Friedman and his colleagues compiled a brief test, drawing 20 questions from the verbal sections of the Graduate Record Exam, and administering it four times to about 120 white and black test-takers during last year’s presidential campaign.

In total, 472 Americans — 84 blacks and 388 whites — took the exam. Both white and black test-takers ranged in age from 18 to 63, and their educational attainment ranged from high school dropout to Ph.D.

On the initial test last summer, whites on average correctly answered about 12 of 20 questions, compared with about 8.5 correct answers for blacks, Dr. Friedman said. But on the tests administered immediately after Mr. Obama’s nomination acceptance speech, and just after his election victory, black performance improved, rendering the white-black gap “statistically nonsignificant,” he said.

“It’s a nice piece of work,” said G. Gage Kingsbury, a testing expert who is a director at the Northwest Evaluation Association, who read the study on Thursday.

But Dr. Kingsbury wondered whether the Obama effect would extend beyond the election, or prove transitory. “I’d want to see another study replicating their results before I get too excited about it,” he said.

Posted: 1/23/2009 11:36:11 PM EDT

[#1]

Magic.

Posted: 1/23/2009 11:43:18 PM EDT

[#2]

Junk science.

Posted: 1/23/2009 11:44:32 PM EDT

[#3]

He's only been in office what? 4 days? Fucking awesome, maybe he'll have cured AIDS and cancer by monday.

Posted: 1/23/2009 11:44:37 PM EDT

[#4]

i read this story yesterday, and i just sat there and laughed. its all you can do with such a 'news' story.

Posted: 1/23/2009 11:47:34 PM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:

Junk science.

Impossible.

Obama has made his countenance to shine down upon his test-taking brethren.

They had TWO WHOLE DAYS in the year O.D. 1 (Obama's Day) and a sample of almost 90 black students to do this study.

You're just racist.

Posted: 1/23/2009 11:49:00 PM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:

By SAM DILLON

Published: January 22, 2009

Educators and policy makers, including Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, have said in recent days that they hope President Obama’s example as a model student could inspire millions of American students, especially blacks

Well, there ya go - Yet another example of the power of Hope and Change™.

Posted: 1/23/2009 11:51:45 PM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:

Junk science.

Impossible.

Obama has made his countenance to shine down upon his test-taking brethren.

They had TWO WHOLE DAYS in the year O.D. 1 (Obama's Day) and a sample of almost 90 black students to do this study.

You're just racist.

I hope your joking.

Posted: 1/23/2009 11:52:36 PM EDT

[#8]

The ONE also ceased global warming here in Ca.

The temperatures in SoCal, obviously because of Bush's weather machine, were set to 80 degrees all of January, that is, until Oboingo's big party.

Then in ONE day, he and Al Gore fixed global warming. Rainy and cold since that day....Its a miracle!! Thank you Obamma

There is NO other explanation!!!!111one!!!!

Now...where's the line for my friggin god granted gubment cheese, and the mortgage buy out?

Posted: 1/23/2009 11:53:57 PM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:

Junk science.

Impossible.

Obama has made his countenance to shine down upon his test-taking brethren.

They had TWO WHOLE DAYS in the year O.D. 1 (Obama's Day) and a sample of almost 90 black students to do this study.

You're just racist.

I hope your joking.

He is.

Did a great job of putting beer through my nose too.

Posted: 1/23/2009 11:56:33 PM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:
The ONE also ceased global warming here in Ca.

The temperatures in SoCal, obviously because of Bush's weather machine, were set to 80 degrees all of January, that is, until Oboingo's big party.

Then in ONE day, he and Al Gore fixed global warming. Rainy and cold since that day....Its a miracle!! Thank you Obamma

There is NO other explanation!!!!111one!!!!

Now...where's the line for my friggin god granted gubment cheese, and the mortgage buy out?

Maybe he could reimburse you for your Z06 and pay for your gas too!

God bless our Great Benevolent Leader.

Posted: 1/23/2009 11:57:14 PM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:

Junk science.

Impossible.

Obama has made his countenance to shine down upon his test-taking brethren.

They had TWO WHOLE DAYS in the year O.D. 1 (Obama's Day) and a sample of almost 90 black students to do this study.

You're just racist.

I hope your joking.

He is.

Did a great job of putting beer through my nose too.

Man what a waste of good beer

. Who knows what else BO can do in his first week of presidency.

Posted: 1/24/2009 12:00:17 AM EDT

[#12]

Since all whites must be racist shouldn’t the resulting depression from Obama winning cause poorer performance for them, thus narrowing the gap?

Might explain why it didn’t go into further detail of the results of the second exam.

Posted: 1/24/2009 12:02:00 AM EDT

[#13]

1st, he has brought snow to NC.

2nd, this massive intellectual transmutation.

That makes 2 miracles.

I hereby nominate our Dear Leader to Sainthood.

Posted: 1/24/2009 12:12:09 AM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:

Quoted:
The ONE also ceased global warming here in Ca.

The temperatures in SoCal, obviously because of Bush's weather machine, were set to 80 degrees all of January, that is, until Oboingo's big party.

Then in ONE day, he and Al Gore fixed global warming. Rainy and cold since that day....Its a miracle!! Thank you Obamma

There is NO other explanation!!!!111one!!!!

Now...where's the line for my friggin god granted gubment cheese, and the mortgage buy out?

Maybe he could reimburse you for your Z06 and pay for your gas too!

God bless our Great Benevolent Leader.

F that, I demand nothing other then better season seats to Ducks games. I am ENTITLED to better seats.

Well, that and the cheese.

You know....I've never had gubment cheese, but hear its good. Is it thick or thin sliced?

Posted: 1/24/2009 12:14:33 AM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:

Quoted:
The ONE also ceased global warming here in Ca.

The temperatures in SoCal, obviously because of Bush's weather machine, were set to 80 degrees all of January, that is, until Oboingo's big party.

Then in ONE day, he and Al Gore fixed global warming. Rainy and cold since that day....Its a miracle!! Thank you Obamma

There is NO other explanation!!!!111one!!!!

Now...where's the line for my friggin god granted gubment cheese, and the mortgage buy out?

Maybe he could reimburse you for your Z06 and pay for your gas too!

God bless our Great Benevolent Leader.

F that, I demand nothing other then better season seats to Ducks games. I am ENTITLED to better seats.

Well, that and the cheese.

You know....I've never had gubment cheese, but hear its good. Is it thick or thin sliced?

What kind of red neck are you? It comes in a fucking wheel. Geez

Posted: 1/25/2009 6:42:08 PM EDT

[#16]

This appears to be pretty meaningless research.

And I bet Asians do better on the tests than anyone.

Posted: 1/25/2009 6:55:35 PM EDT

[#17]

I actually know Ray Friedman quite well. He's a pretty competent and well-trained researcher.

For many years, people have believed that one component of the reason that blacks consistently score lower than whites and asians is a "self-fulfilling prophecy" kind of problem, caused by blacks KNOWING that they statistically tend to perform lower, and this screwing up their concentration/motivation in a variety of ways (too complex to explain here). The positive effect of a role model like the POTUS could conceivably absolutely have some effect (likely temporary), on that difference, so I can see the underlying logic of the argument (based on prior psychology and social psychology research).

That said, there could be a number of things going on, and I'd have to see the study - especially the study design and sampling, to see how well they've addressed various confounds. Unfortuantely (or fortunately), I don't review for JESP, so I won't be in a situation to formally evaluate it. I could probably get a copy of the study if I asked Ray.

Posted: 1/25/2009 7:01:08 PM EDT

[#18]

The findings seem entirely plausible. I understand that no one wants to give an inch to Obama, but he does serve a positive role model for black youth. They rarely see a member of the "elite" who looks like them.

- BG

Posted: 1/25/2009 7:10:10 PM EDT

[#19]

good lord.....

Hey, maybe Obama will cure urban violence. The gangbangers will come together and become peaceful community organizers. Crack addicts will give up the rock. Cats will live with dogs. Mets and Yankee fans will cheer on the other team. Irish won't drink quite so much. Jews will actually leave money on the ground. Protestants and Catholics will unite. Emmo kids will wear colors. Yuppies will drive Hyundai's. OPEC will lower oil prices. French people will take a bath and become polite. British people will discover dentistry. Rednecks will cut their mullets off. Blacks will put down the malt liqueur. ESPN will admit a Big Ten bias and become neutral...

This is going to be good.

Posted: 1/25/2009 7:12:54 PM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:
He's only been in office what? 4 days? Fucking awesome, maybe he'll have cured AIDS and cancer by monday.

I think world poverty was scheduled for Monday, aids and cancer Tuesday.

Posted: 1/25/2009 7:17:12 PM EDT

[#21]

I'm sorry, but how do get evidence of this with only 3 school days past the inauguration?

Posted: 1/25/2009 7:20:57 PM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:
I'm sorry, but how do get evidence of this with only 3 school days past the inauguration?

By comparing the results of the same standardized test given to a bunch of black and white kids (different ones each time, of course) at various points in time: Before the campaigning, before his nomination, after his nomination, after his election, and after his inaguration.

If there was a big difference in test scores between black & white before Obama was really well known, and that difference got progessively smaller as he became more porminent and more successful, an argument could certainly be made that the presence of a very salient successful black role model may have ameliorated some of the known psychological factors that can contribute to blacks doing poorly on standardized tests (controlling for other causes of test score differences, of course).

Posted: 1/25/2009 7:22:01 PM EDT

[#23]

Quoted:
i read this story yesterday, and i just sat there and laughed. its all you can do with such a 'news' story.

I don't watch any news anymore, I get enough WTF news on here with out pissing me off as it is.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Study Sees an Obama Effect as Lifting Black Test-Takers

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