Research To Keep An Eye On...

At a retreat of the National Academy of Education last week, I heard a presentation by Greg Walton (Stanford University) that took me by surprise. This guy conducted a series of experiments that showed that simply telling black students they "belong" in college and have struggles which are common and surmountable can have a direct positive impact, increasing their college achievement. Walton's are small but randomized controlled interventions in a lab setting, which makes for great confidence in the effects he estimates. At least for this population, which I'd characterize as black college students willing to participate in an experiment (a group arguably different from the general population, and also different from the population of white students willing to participate), a brief psychological encounter in a lab seems to make a big difference. I'd need to know more before I bought stock in this one, but in the meantime, Walton's research is something I'll be keeping an eye on....