Emerging Idea: Helping Students Overcome Barriers by Writing Down Their Why 

Educator Research

We welcome you to proceed with using this idea. However, this idea has shown promise but needs additional testing before it can be considered a research-based change idea.

Do you want to be a part of a movement to improve outcomes for students anywhere by testing this idea and contributing to the field? Are you willing to test this idea and collect data? We are here for you.

Email thailey@schoolsthatlead.org for a simple data collection tool. Once you have successfully completed testing and submitted your data, you will have the opportunity to receive a token of appreciation from us here at Schools That Lead (Some restrictions apply).

This is a chance to improve outcomes for your students and to accelerate improvement overall!

Students are encountering extra barriers right now.  This idea builds on the science research that demonstrates that writing down goals or tasks and  linking them to their own lives or the lives of people they care about can increase the likelihood that the goals are actually achieved.

• Research Base

  Haden, Jeff, “Science Says Adding Just 1 Element To Your To-Do List (and Goals) Will ‘Remarkably’ Improve Your Success Rate,” Inc. Dec 31, 2020.  National Science Foundation Research, 2017

• Impact

  A remarkable finding involved a brief writing exercise. Some students were required to write about the relevance of course topics to their own life, or to the life of a family member or close friend – in short, to actually write down their “why?” Those who did not only improved significantly in that class, their success rate improved over several subsequent semesters. As a bonus, the writing exercise showed the largest benefits for student groups at greatest risk for academic failure.

• Practical Keys to Success
  • Remind students that adults do this too.  We link difficult goals to why they matter in our own lives.
  • Older students may find this short article (linked) useful: Science Says Adding Just One Element To Your To-Do List (and Goals) Will 'Remarkably' Improve Your Success Rate
  • Try this idea out on yourself first.
• Measurement

  Record the student's grades, course performance or other performance indicator before the activity. Measure the change over time. This how you tell if this idea leads to improvement for your student. Here is a link to sample spreadsheet for data collection:Helping Students Overcome Their Barriers By Writing Down Their Why