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., to improve students’ learning), but also a selection function (i.e., to compare people, and orient them towards different positions in society). Because current assessment practices focus on the selection more than on the educational function, their characteristics fit better with norms and values shared by dominant high-status groups and may favour high-SES students over low-SES students in terms of performances. A focus on the educational function (i.e., mastery goals), instead, may support low-SES students’ achievement, but empirical evidence is currently lacking. The present research set out to provide such evidence and tested, in two field studies and a randomised field experiment, the hypothesis that focusing on University’s educational function rather than on its selection function may reduce the SES achievement gap. Results showed that a focus on learning, mastery-oriented goals in the assessment process reduced the SES achievement gap at University. For the first time, empirical data support the idea that low-SES students can perform as well as high-SES students if they are led to understand assessment as part of the learning process, a way to reach mastery goals, rather than as a way to compare students to each other and select the best of them, resulting in performance goals. This research thus provides a theoretical framework to understand the differential effects of assessment on the achievement of high and low-SES students, and paves the way toward the implementation of novel, theory-driven interventions to reduce the SES-based achievement gap at University.

One way to increase girls' performance on a science test without harming boys' performance is to present assessment as a tool for improving mastery rather than as a tool for comparing performances.

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Résumé Dans le but de mieux comprendre les différences de performances scolaires observées de manière récurrente entre les élèves selon leur appartenance socio-économique, cette recherche étudie les liens entre certains mécanismes liés à la motivation scolaire et leur origine socio-économique. Dès lors, une hypothèse est testée sur des élèves de CM2. Cette hypothèse postule que les élèves issus de milieux socio-économiques défavorisés auraient, d’une part, une vision plus fixe de l’intelligence et, d’autre part endosseraient davantage de « buts de performance approche et évitement » que les enfants appartenant à un milieu plus favorisé. Pour ce faire, un recueil de données empiriques est conduit. L’identification des conceptions de l’intelligence et des buts de réussite des élèves est réalisée à partir d’échelles référencées dans la littérature. Les résultats, en partie conformes à notre hypothèse, sont discutés.