The academic success of boys and girls as an identity issue in gender relations: when the most threatened is not the one expected.

The present research aims to determine whether girls' higher academic achievement, which should grant them a higher academic status than boys, could prevent them from experiencing social-identity threat on this dimension. Because they fear situations questioning their superiority, we argue that an unfavorable intergroup comparison would be more threatening for the high-status, rather than low-status, group on the dimension of academic achievement. Two studies were conducted, respectively, in high school, where girls should represent the high-status group (Study 1), and middle school, where students might perceive their own group as the high-status group (Study 2).

Facing the risk of upward mobility: Performance-avoidance goals and social class among high-school students.

Recent research has shown that lower social class students are more likely to endorse performance-avoidance goals (i.e., the fear of performing poorly) than higher-class students, particularly in situations of success.

Reducing the socio-economic status achievement gap at University by promoting mastery-oriented assessment.

In spite of official intentions to reduce inequalities at University, students' socio-economic status (SES) is still a major determinant of academic success. The literature on the dual function of University suggests that University serves not only an educational function (i.e.