Nationally, educators suspend Black students at greater rates than any other group. This disproportionality is fueled by stereotypes casting Black students as “troublemakers”—a label students too often internalize as part of their identities. Across two independent double-blind randomized field trials involving over 2,000 seventh graders in 11 middle schools, we tested the efficacy of a brief intervention to buffer students from stereotypes and mitigate the racial suspension gap. The self-affirmation intervention helps students access positive aspects of their identities less associated with troublemaking in school. Confirmed in both trials, treatment effects cut Black-White suspension and office disciplinary referral gaps during seventh and eighth grade by approximately two thirds, with even greater impacts for Black students with prior infractions.

在全国范围内，教育工作者对黑人学生的停学率高于任何其他群体。这种不成比例的原因是将黑人学生视为“麻烦制造者”的刻板印象——学生经常将这种标签内化为他们身份的一部分。在涉及 11 所中学的 2,000 多名七年级学生的两项独立双盲随机现场试验中，我们测试了短暂干预的有效性，以缓冲学生的刻板印象并减轻种族悬置差距。自我肯定干预可帮助学生了解其身份中与在学校制造麻烦较少相关的积极方面。在两项试验中都证实，治疗效果将七年级和八年级期间的黑白停学和办公室纪律转诊差距减少了大约三分之二，