Appalachian Stereotypes
and the Impact on
Student Success
I can
do it!
Dr. Sarah Beasley, Director of Retention, Concord University
Appalachian Higher Education Network
June 25, 2015
Why Rural?
 Urban bias
 25% of public school
children in rural school
districts (12 million+)
 Only 17% of rural adults
have a college degree
 Rural students (18-24 yr
olds) less likely to attend
college than their suburban
and urban counterparts
(31% vs. 42% vs. 46%)
 Rural community decline
 Rural poverty
Rural youth more likely to…
 Live in counties with no college
 Have little access to college information
 Have lower educational aspirations
 Have parents who did not attend college
 Have parents that are less likely to encourage
higher education (rural student perception)
 Have fewer highly educated role models
 Have less confidence in their academic ability
Findings: Family

Attachment to
Family
 Four-year/twoyear
 Pressure to stay
Mingo County native, Bob Maguire (on left),
visiting family cemetery in Newtown, WV.
4
Findings: Family cont.

Mountain top removal site near Gilbert, WV.
Family Legacies
 Gender norms
 Increased pressure
to carry on legacies
Findings: Family cont.
Parental Encouragement and
Support
 Financial
 Encouragement
 Help with Applications
 Education as a Priority
 Cultural Capital
Findings: Family cont.
• Do Better Than Parents
• Success for Others
Findings: Leaving &
Returning/Staying
I think most of ‘em sticking around here, like the guys,
you’ll see them going off [inaudible] and going in the
coal mines and going in the ground [inaudible] or
doing something like timber and stuff. That’s pretty
much all that’s open around here. And then the girls
that normally don’t go to college from up around here
pretty much after a few years you see ‘em married off,
and have families, which is not a bad thing, you know?
But that’s normally how [the] pattern. It’s kinda like if
you don’t take your chance and get out when you can,
you never find the opportunity again. It’s like once
you get sucked in, you’re here for good (student
interview).
8
Additional Findings
Community, High
Schools, and Peers
High School
Encouragement
Extracurricular
Involvement
Peer Support
Gilbert, WV, Gilbert High School 2009
homecoming parade.
9
Additional Findings cont.
Other College
Success Factors
and Barriers
Student
Worries/Conc
erns
Negative
Stereotypes
Matewan, WV
What can we do?
Have the tough conversations
Include Families
Replicate family supports (intrusive and
appreciative advising)
Provide peer support (learning communities,
study groups, cohorts, etc.)
West
Virginia/Appalachian
Stereotypes
What is Stereotype Threat?
(Steele & Aronson, 1995)
Negative
stereotype
negative
expectations;
memory
Increased anxiety; decreased
task self-efficacy; increased
thinking; lowered
decreased working
Image from http://www.npr.org/2012/07/12/156664337/stereotype-threat-why-women-quit-science-jobs cognition
Effects of
Stereotype
Threat
• Underachievement
on academic tasks
• Self-handicapping
• Limit options/alter
aspirations
• Decreased
performance in nonacademic tasks
• Disengagement/dis
identification
• Risk averse/task
avoidance
When might it be worse?
 Group identity salience
 Numerical minority/solo
 Stereotype salience
 Evaluation of domain
 Academic Achievement
 College Adjustment
Self- Efficacy
• “The belief in one’s
capabilities to
organize and execute
the courses of action
required to manage
prospective
situations” (Bandura,
1994)
 Student Persistence
 Students with high selfefficacy:
o Set high goals
o Have high task
persistence
o More likely to use
heuristics/short cuts in
problem solving
GRIT (Duckworth)
“Perseverance
and
passion for longterm goals”
How gritty are you?—
Short Grit Scale
Positive Academic Mindset
SelfEfficacy
Sense of
Belonging
Positive
Academic
Mindset
Work has
Value
Growth
Mindset
Mindset (Dweck)
Fixed Mindset
It’s fixed or something you’re
born with (inherent/natural).
Avoids
Gives up easily
Fruitless or worse
Ignores useful negative
feedback
Threatened by
Growth Mindset
Intelligence/Skills Hard work and effort can
/Talent
improve.
Challenges
Obstacles
Effort
Criticism
Success of Others
Embraces
Persists in the face of setbacks
Path to mastery
Learns from criticism
Finds lessons and inspiration
in
Fixed Mindset
You’re smarter
than me…
Growth Mindset
“Failure is only the opportunity to begin
again, only this time more wisely.” Henry
Ford
 Provide Positive
Role Models
 Reframe the
task as nonevaluative
 Increase SelfEfficacy
(modeling,
praise)
 Encourage
Growth
Mindset
 Self-affirmation
Rich History and Culture
Growth Mindset
SUCCESS = Effort +
Strategies + Help from
Others
Yeager, Walton, &
Cohen (2013)
Questions
Comments
Contact:
Dr. Sarah Beasley
sbeasley@concord.edu
304-384-6298