Thursday, January 22, 2009

VU profs report 'Obama effect' on test-taking by African-Americans

In a report that seems likely to garner national attention, Owen Graduate School of Management Prof. Ray Friedman and his colleagues report that the positive role model of then-Presidential Candidate and now President Barack Obama seems to have had beneficial effect on African-American students taking. The report indicates that African-American students who did not witness prominent events in Obama's run for The White House, did not fare as well on portions of the Graduate Record Exam. The report further suggests that test performance was linked to reduced concern regarding stereotyping of African-Americans, which is widely egarded as a hindrance to performance and achievement. The VU release is here. Friedman is the school's Brownlee O. Currey Professor of Management.

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