An hour-long pledge session made teachers more ready to try new classroom methods

The study

1. 01

   Who took part

   43 teachers at two primary schools in one US city, most of them women, with about 9 years of teaching on average. 22 got the session and 21 got a planning meeting.

2. 02

   What they did

   Before a two-day course on running a classroom, one group had a one-hour group session. They watched videos on how the brain grows with effort. They wrote letters to new teachers about learning something hard, and signed a public pledge. The other group had a one-hour meeting about schedules. Then both groups got the same course and two check-ins.

3. 03

   What happened

   Right after the course, teachers who had the session said they meant to use the new practices more. Six weeks later, observers saw them use the practices more closely as taught. Their classes also spent more time on schoolwork, but the teachers rated that themselves.

What the study found

1. HelpedMotivation

   Teachers who had an hour on how skills grow, letters and a public pledge planned to use new methods more.

   • Action: Learn how the problem workstested
   • Action: Give advice to someone facing the same challengetested
   • Rule: Ask someone to expect youtested
   • Rule: Practise with a groupused

   Small randomised trial of 43 primary school teachers in the US · vs a one-hour meeting about schedules · they rated themselves · ⚠ summary claims more than the results show

2. HelpedGoals

   Six weeks later, those teachers used the new classroom methods more closely as taught.

   • Action: Learn how the problem workstested
   • Action: Give advice to someone facing the same challengetested
   • Rule: Ask someone to expect youtested

   Small randomised trial of 43 primary school teachers in the US · vs a one-hour meeting about schedules · they rated themselves · ⚠ summary claims more than the results show

3. HelpedFocus

   Their classes also spent more time on schoolwork six weeks later than the other teachers' classes.

   • Action: Learn how the problem workstested
   • Action: Give advice to someone facing the same challengetested
   • Rule: Ask someone to expect youtested

   Small randomised trial of 43 primary school teachers in the US · vs a one-hour meeting about schedules · they rated themselves · ⚠ summary claims more than the results show

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