A new study shows how to close a critical achievement gap.

Even though many students have difficulty adapting to college life, it is first-generation students, students from low-income families, and minorities who are most affected and at most significant risk of leaving school.

According to research, this achievement gap is attributable, in part, because members of underrepresented communities are constantly doubting their intellectual and social belonging.

A group of researchers, including Rob Urstein, managing director of Global Innovation Programs and lecturer of management at Stanford Graduate School of Business, found a way to help students with disadvantaged backgrounds transition from high school to college.

Before students arrived on campus, the experiment targeted negative stereotypes. As they completed summer orientation materials online, incoming first-year students read short stories from upper-level students about how they initially felt out of place but eventually gained a feeling of belonging. Students were taught that intelligence is not a fixed characteristic but can be improved over time.

These simple online interventions had a profound impact. This paper, published recently in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that students with social and economic disadvantages who received the intervention were likelier to remain enrolled full-time through their first year of school and had higher grade point scores. The researchers found that the gains made by these interventions closed the achievement gap roughly by a third. This is a remarkable result, considering the ease and affordability of such interventions.

This study suggests other intriguing possibilities besides the obvious educational ones. Could similar interventions prepare people for new careers? Could similar interventions help people start new jobs? Urstein and I recently discussed some of these possibilities.

This study found that a simple, short intervention can impact students’ mindsets for a long time. What makes these interventions so successful

These interventions are not a panacea. These interventions must be used in conjunction with others to help students succeed. Although it would be wonderful to say, “Wow, just one small intervention and everyone will succeed,” the reality is that this is a very complex issue. Determining the best time and place for these interventions is also important.

We’ve done it with students from several different institutions. It helps students realize that college is hard at first but not abnormal. There are many resources available to help. It’s more of an injection rather than a vaccination. It is not magic but can help you relax during the transition.

These interventions may not be a cure-all, but they can help students see the transition from high school into college as an expected bump in the road rather than a sign of their failure or the beginning of a downward spiral.

What are the potential applications of these psychological interventions beyond academics

This work can help frame what moving into a new setting is like.

Consider starting a job. You are trying to understand the landscape. The search was very competitive. It’s great that you got the job, but you worry about how you will fit in. What happens if I stumble? Most of us make mistakes at work, but we learn from them to improve next time. If you don’t see it as usual, you might start to doubt your qualifications for the job. Imagine members of the military transitioning to a career in industry. How can we prepare veterans better for these transitions?

This work could have a great deal of impact in other contexts.

Has your involvement in other initiatives to implement these ideas in various settings been successful

About two years ago, I began a project as the associate vice president for undergraduate education at Stanford and dean of freshman. At that time, we tracked all undergraduates’ academic progress. In a typical academic quarter, around 100 undergraduates are placed on probation. About a third of these students completed their probation successfully, and we never heard from them again. The other two-thirds spent their remaining time at Stanford coping with some academic difficulty. I wondered how to understand better why some students can get off probation and what the barriers were for those who had a more challenging time. What could we do to improve the first institution signal that they weren’t making satisfactory progress?

What have you discovered

We interviewed hundreds of students who were placed on academic probation. When they heard the news, many felt ashamed and embarrassed. They did not know whom to talk to, and they felt alone.

The letter we used for years to tell students they were on probation was still in place. The letter was harsh and used the phrase Academic probation in capital letters. This may have meant that students were now in a new class. This is a condition.

We tested the new letter with students placed on probation for the first time. The latest letter contained the same information regarding probation and what students must do to complete it successfully. We reframed probation as a procedure rather than a state. We wanted students to understand that it is not an indictment on them as individuals and that struggling with academic performance and struggles are common. Many other students have experienced this, and there are ways to overcome it. Also, we included a few short stories from former students who said, “I struggled.” I was placed on academic probation. “It wasn’t easy, but I made progress using these resources and did some things. It ended up being okay.”

Have you noticed any changes since the new letter was sent

Students who received the new letter and narratives contacted advisors faster, which is one way to connect them with resources and support. Students who received the revised letter reported feeling significantly less shame and embarrassment. We decided to implement this even though the numbers were small. While this project is still in its infancy, and we have expanded the study to include other institutions, this offers a way of thinking about “Are these types of interventions successful in other contexts or at specific times?”