Replicating a Scalable Intervention That Helps Students Reappraise Academic and Social Adversity During the Transition to Middle School

Abstract

Recent evidence suggests that helping students reappraise common social and academic worries during the difficult transition to middle school can improve their academic achievement. To further test this outcome, we conducted a pre-registered randomized controlled trial at scale among students transitioning to middle school in seventh grade (N = 2,171). The intervention increased students’ seventh-grade grade point average, the sole confirmatory outcome proposed in preregistration, and reduced course failures when compared to controlgroup students. Differences in effects between those found for white students and for other racial/ethnic groups were not statistically significant. These results reinforce previous findings suggesting that reappraising stressful school situations during the transition to middle school may improve academic achievement for students across all demographic groups.

Keywords:

• Social-psychological intervention
• middle school transition
• academic achievement
• school belonging

Acknowledgments

We thank Greg Walton and Geoffrey Cohen for sharing their intervention materials with us and for advice during the design of this project.

Additional information

Funding

Research reported here was supported by a grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. The content is the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views of supporting agency.