Research has long touted the impact that positive role models can have on students, particularly at-risk students, and their academic performance. Having someone to look up to and draw inspiration from can be an incredibly effective motivator for students.
So it should come as little surprise that many think President Barack Obama might prove to be the ultimate muse? What did surprise some is how quickly the nation’s new leader seems to have an effect on persistent racial gaps in academic performance.
Researchers from San Diego State, Northwestern and Vanderbilt universities administered a 20-question test to a group of 472 black and white Americans, their ages ranging from 18 to 63 and their educational background ranging from high school drop out to doctoral recipient.
The test, which drew from the verbal portion of the GRE, was conducted before Obama’s nomination, after his acceptance speech at the DNC, and once more after he was elected.
“Obama is obviously inspirational but we wondered whether he would contribute to an improvement in something as important as black test-taking,” Ray Friedman, one of the study’s authors told the New York Times. ”We were skeptical that we would find any effect, but our results surprised us.”
The study showed that a disparity between the scores of the black test-takers and white test-takers virtually disappeared between the time Obama was vying for the nation’s highest office and the time he actually clinched it.
While the study drew on a small group and has not been peer-viewed, many found the results intriguing and worthy of more extensive research.
“There is 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,” Harvard professor Ronald Ferguson told the Times.
