Stereotype Threat for Rural Students

Stereotype threat refers to a situation in which learners find themselves “at risk” for conforming to stereotypes about their social group and has been cited as a contributing factor related to racial and gender gaps in academic performance. Given the persistent and pervasive negative stereotypes about rural people and places, stereotype threat is an important consideration for rural learners, especially when determining students’ eligibility for gifted programming. In this chapter the reader is introduced to a review of the literature on stereotype threat as it relates to rural learners, a description of efforts to reduce stereotype threat embedded in the Promoting PLACE in Rural Schools project, and takeaways for other researchers wanting to investigate this construct in future studies.