For acclaimed social psychologist Dr. Claude Steele, the numbers just didn’t make sense. Why, he wondered, was the national college dropout rate for Black students 20 to 25 percent higher than that for whites even when those students were just as well-prepared for college, had no socioeconomic disadvantages and managed to get excellent SAT scores And among those Black students who did finish college, why was their grade-point average consistently lower than white students
Drawing from his new book, “Whistling Vivaldi,” Steele offered corporate leaders and diversity executives attending a Fair360, formerly DiversityInc event an insider’s look at his groundbreaking research on stereotypes and identity and the role they play in academic achievement and underachievement among Blacks and women.
