Research recently published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, co-authored by David Yeager, assistant professor of developmental psychology at UT, shows that African American students who demonstrate need for improvements in performance are best encouraged by high standards for their academic performance as well as a demonstrated belief in their abilities, a strategy known as “wise feedback.”
The difference in performance was more pronounced in the group of African-American students than white students, for which there was no statistically significant difference, and especially pronounced for African-American students who previously reported low trust in teachers. Also, this type of feedback increased trust of the African-American students in their teachers.
According to a UT press release these findings contradict a common trend in education of praising students for mediocre work to help raise self-esteem before delivering critical remarks. That method may seem patronizing and could backfire and lower self-esteem, especially when white teachers praise African-American students, said lead author Yeager.
In the first study, 22 African-American students and 22 white students were given an assignment to write an essay about their personal hero. After the first draft, one group received a hand-written note from the teacher that stated, “I'm giving you these comments because I have very high expectations, and I know you can reach them.” The control group received a note that stated, “I'm giving these comments so that you'll have feedback on your paper.”
For African-American students who received the note regarding high expectations, 71 percent revised their essays, compared to 17 percent in the control group. The findings were even more pronounced for African-American students who had reported low trust in their teachers in surveys, with 82 percent revising their essays in the high-expectations group, compared to none in the control group. White students who received the high-expectations note also were more likely to revise their essays, but the difference wasn’t statistically significant compared to the control group.
Another study with a group of 22 African-American students and 22 white students in the seventh grade analyzed grades for the revised essays. In the high-expectations group, 88 percent of African-American students received better grades on their revised essays, compared to 34 percent in the control group. In the long term, African-American students who had received the high-expectations note also reported higher levels of trust in their teachers. White students in the high expectations group also saw slightly higher grades, but the difference was not statistically significant.
The research paper, “Breaking the Cycle of Mistrust: Wise Interventions to Provide Critical Feedback Across the Racial Divide,” was authored by the following: David Scott Yeager, Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin; Geoffrey L. Cohen, Ph.D., Stanford University; Valerie Purdie-Vaughns, Ph.D., and Patti Brzustoski, Columbia University; Julio Garcia, PhD, University of Colorado at Boulder; Nancy Apfel, Yale University; Allison Master, Ph.D., University of Washington; William T. Hessert, MA, University of Chicago; and Matthew E. Williams, MEd, principal of Bronx Design Construction Academy.