Study Sees an Obama Effect as Lifting Black Test-Takers

Last updated Feb 5, 2021

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Educators and policy makers, including Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, have said in recent days that they hope President Obama’s example as a model student could inspire millions of American students, especially blacks, to higher academic performance.

Now researchers have documented what they call an Obama effect, showing that a performance gap between African-Americans and whites on a 20-question test administered before Mr. Obama’s nomination all but disappeared when the exam was administered after his acceptance speech and again after the presidential election. Click here to read the full article.

Source: The New York Times, January 22, 2009.

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