Study: News Reports of Education “Achievement Gaps” May Perpetuate Stereotypes of Black Americans

Scholars have warned that the framing of racial “achievement gaps” in tests scores, grades, and other education outcomes may perpetuate racial stereotypes and encourage people to explain the gaps as the failure of students and their families rather than as resulting from structural racism. A new study finds that TV news reporting about racial achievement gaps led viewers to report exaggerated stereotypes of Black Americans as lacking education and may have increased implicit stereotyping of Black students as less competent than White students.