Yeager, Purdie-Vaughns et al., 2014, Experiments 1 and 2: Framing critical feedback as a source of growth increased number of essays revised, decreased disciplinary citations, and were more likely to enroll in college among Black 7th grade students over years
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Summary:
Black and White 7th grade students turned in an essay, on which their teacher had provided critical feedback. When a paper-clipped note written by their teacher was appended to the marked-up essay reading, “I’m giving you these comments because I have high standards and I know that you can meet them” (versus “I’m giving you these comments so that you’ll have feedback on your paper”) this note (a) increased the percentage of White students who chose to revise their essay from 64% to 82%, and increased the percentage of Black students from 27% to 64% (raw percentages) (Experiment 1) and (b), when this revision was required, increased the quality of the revision. The greatest effects were observed for Black students who were mistrustful of school and, among these students, halted a 2-year decline in school trust over the rest of the school year. In a long-term follow-up from both experiments (Yeager, Purdie-Vaughns, et al., 2017), African American students who received the wise-feedback note received half has many disciplinary citations in 8th grade as those who did not, cutting the racial disparity in half, and were more likely to enroll in a four-year college on-time (64% versus 45%).