Tailoring School-Based Interventions to Enhance Trust and Engagement in School

Introduction: Student and parental trust and engagement in school are associated with positive student outcomes (Froiland & Davison, 2014; Yeager et al., 2014). Wise feedback is a low-cost intervention designed to enhance these feelings through delivery of precise statements that communicate a teacher’s high expectations and beliefs in the success of the student. This triggers a self-fulfilling prophecy resulting in a person behaving consistently with the positive expectations. This presentation reviews findings from two studies examining the impact of wise-feedback when tailored to parents and students with low levels of school engagement.

Methods: Study 1 consisted of six students at-risk for dropout upon entering 9th grade. Participants rated their sense of trust and belonging in school. Using a single case experimental design, the effects of the wise feedback intervention on warning indicators of dropout were evaluated visually and statistically. Study 2 included 51 elementary students whose parents were disengaged from a larger school-home communication system. Participants were randomly assigned to a treatment condition, where parents received a personalized statement from their child’s teacher (n=25), or a control condition, where parents received a generic statement. Parental engagement and trust, and student behavior ratings were collected.

Results: The results of both studies demonstrated meaningful effects following implementation of the interventions. Results of study 1 indicated gains in students’ sense of trust (z=-2.15, p<.05) and belonging (z=-2.18, p<.05). Visual and statistical analysis determined a reduction in level, trend, and variability in at-risk behaviors across participants. Study 2 results enhanced parental trust (F(1, 49)=13.01, p=0.001, η²=0.210) and communication (F(1,49)=19.82, p<0.001, η²=0.288) with teachers, particularly for Black students (F(2,45)=3.72, p=0.032, η²=0.142). Increased parental trust predicted better student ratings of safety (F(2,48)=5.048, p=0.01, R²=0.139), respect (F(2,48)=6.558, p=0.003, R²=0.182), and responsibility (F(2,48)=13.638, p<0.001, R²=0.336) in school.

Conclusion: This project demonstrated the effectiveness of wise feedback, a low-cost, high-yield intervention that can be delivered in classrooms to enhance parental and student trust and engagement. It also demonstrated the ability to tailor this intervention to meet the needs of students and parents who may have a sense of mistrust or be uncertain about their belonging due to cultural differences. Wise feedback warrants continued research as a preventative approach against disengagement from school that potentially results in dropout or other negative outcomes.