A Scalable, Theory-Based Intervention to Influence Teachers’ Student Engagement Practices Improves Academic Performance in a State-Wide Sample

A Scalable, Theory-Based Intervention to Influence Teachers’ Student Engagement Practices Improves Academic Performance in a State-Wide Sample | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article A Scalable, Theory-Based Intervention to Influence Teachers’ Student Engagement Practices Improves Academic Performance in a State-Wide Sample David Yeager, Cameron Hecht, Christopher Bryan, Matthew Giani, and 13 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8302846/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract What can be done about the crisis of student disengagement? A theoretical analysis led to a novel behavioral intervention that motivated and coached teachers to cultivate a classroom “culture of learning.” This was intended to contradict the typical, disengaging “culture of judgment and evaluation” in secondary schools. The program, called the Fellowship Using the Science of Engagement (FUSE), influenced teachers’ light-touch practices and involved changes to classroom language and communication around student mistakes, confusion, and grades. In doing so, the FUSE program honored teachers as collaborators (rather than passive recipients of “expert wisdom”) and connected them virtually with other teachers in the program and with coaches who were also practicing educators. FUSE was evaluated in 6th to 9th grade math classes in a diverse, state-wide sample of 80 Texas public schools (N = 152 teachers; N=12,432 students). A control group (randomly assigned) received a version of the FUSE program that taught principles of cognitive science and how to apply them to teachers’ math instruction. The pre-registered, conservative, Bayesian analysis showed that the FUSE treatment program changed teachers’ beliefs and behaviors (average treatment effects from .14 to .51 s.d.), led to an estimated effect on student math performance equivalent to an additional 4 months of student learning, and reduced the proportion of teachers who reported feeling “burnt out” by half, while improving teacher well-being by .25 s.d. This is the only known teacher intervention to influence teacher behavior, student performance, and teacher well-being longitudinally in a pre-registered randomized trial that was conducted in a scaled-up manner. Given the relatively low cost of the program (~$25 per student per year) this study highlights the ability of behaviorally-informed interventions to influence teachers’ subtle, culture-building practices and points to their role as an important route to educational improvement. Social science/Psychology/Human behaviour Social science/Education Full Text Additional Declarations Yes there is potential Competing Interest. None of the authors owns a financial stake in any growth mindset product or service for students or teachers. The FUSE program is now available (after evaluation) for purchase at cost to school districts via the University of Texas at Austin, a non-profit academic institution. None of the authors receives pay, owns equity, or has any arrangement for future profit from the FUSE program, and all funds raised from the FUSE program go to support the research and training mission at UT Austin. Supplementary Files SupplementforYeageretalFUSEevaluation.docx Supplemental Online Information Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8302846","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":561313972,"identity":"6ed50c07-8989-41f4-944a-1adda86de565","order_by":0,"name":"David Yeager","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA10lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDCCAxBKDkOEoBZjBjZStSQ2EK2F70bywY9fKu6lb7jffEzixx8GOb4bCfi1SN5IS5aWOVOcu+EYW7JhbxuDsSQhLQY3cgykJdsSgFp4DB/wNjAkbiCsJf/zb8l/CekGx/g/HPzzh6GeCC05bJIfGxISDI7xMD7mYWNIMCDolzPPzKwZjiUYzjyWZmws2yZhOPPMA/xa+I4nP775oyZBnu/w4WeSb/7YyPMdJ2ALg0ACAzMPgitBQDkI8B9gYPxBhLpRMApGwSgYwQAA46FMp7FSs/kAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8522-9503","institution":"University of Texas at Austin","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"David","middleName":"","lastName":"Yeager","suffix":""},{"id":561313973,"identity":"49a6289e-08ed-49a7-b2d5-046b2d50fe32","order_by":1,"name":"Cameron Hecht","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4842-6003","institution":"Department of Psychology, University of Rochester","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Cameron","middleName":"","lastName":"Hecht","suffix":""},{"id":561313974,"identity":"8d082e84-8e69-4ce3-a82c-e2d2ac35a4be","order_by":2,"name":"Christopher Bryan","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1582-4411","institution":"University of Texas at Austin","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Christopher","middleName":"","lastName":"Bryan","suffix":""},{"id":561313975,"identity":"2acf1eed-bdd2-45de-86ba-78d1f92c540b","order_by":3,"name":"Matthew Giani","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Department of Sociology, University of Texas at Austin","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Matthew","middleName":"","lastName":"Giani","suffix":""},{"id":561313976,"identity":"7a5d44fb-5991-460e-aaf6-7ffeff2c90d4","order_by":4,"name":"Robert Crosnoe","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"The University of Texas at Austin","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Robert","middleName":"","lastName":"Crosnoe","suffix":""},{"id":561313977,"identity":"7ec84793-e5f1-4dea-806f-dfdc5c2ce67d","order_by":5,"name":"Chandra Muller","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Texas at Austin","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Chandra","middleName":"","lastName":"Muller","suffix":""},{"id":561313978,"identity":"54452b99-f41f-4663-ab1e-fc36ee835a39","order_by":6,"name":"Elizabeth Tipton","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5608-1282","institution":"Northwestern University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Elizabeth","middleName":"","lastName":"Tipton","suffix":""},{"id":561313979,"identity":"3d634d61-a357-45c0-9df3-2cf97f0d381c","order_by":7,"name":"Jared Murray","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jared","middleName":"","lastName":"Murray","suffix":""},{"id":561313980,"identity":"6cf8a5e7-e4be-402b-8aef-c01018e26026","order_by":8,"name":"Ryan Smith","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Texas Behavioral Science and Policy Institute at the Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ryan","middleName":"","lastName":"Smith","suffix":""},{"id":561313981,"identity":"5bd8929f-b121-4464-8956-b2b5f9f90471","order_by":9,"name":"Shuqi Zhang","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0459-0688","institution":"Texas Behavioral Science and Policy Institute at the Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shuqi","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":561313982,"identity":"d42fb793-f3ed-4c6f-8c02-baed4bcee02b","order_by":10,"name":"Meghann Johnson","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Alpha Motivation Lab","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Meghann","middleName":"","lastName":"Johnson","suffix":""},{"id":561313983,"identity":"ade0b38e-554a-47fa-87f7-9cd471c03d43","order_by":11,"name":"Megan Smith","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Alpha Motivation Lab","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Megan","middleName":"","lastName":"Smith","suffix":""},{"id":561313984,"identity":"bf9fb6ab-b61c-4212-b820-8a9c5abde510","order_by":12,"name":"Jenny Buontempo","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Texas Behavioral Science and Policy Institute at the Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jenny","middleName":"","lastName":"Buontempo","suffix":""},{"id":561313985,"identity":"c0d71df4-0cc5-49b5-874e-1ef5284073e4","order_by":13,"name":"Rebecca Boylan","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Texas Behavioral Science and Policy Institute at the Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Rebecca","middleName":"","lastName":"Boylan","suffix":""},{"id":561313986,"identity":"1e24e8d0-f287-47be-bb87-52a1dc9256a2","order_by":14,"name":"Shannon Green","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Texas Behavioral Science and Policy Institute at the Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shannon","middleName":"","lastName":"Green","suffix":""},{"id":561313987,"identity":"cd44ab50-aaf6-460d-ba89-4fd1e5d341a1","order_by":15,"name":"Mary Murphy","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Apple University and Equity Accelerator","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mary","middleName":"","lastName":"Murphy","suffix":""},{"id":561313988,"identity":"634c557a-334f-4f32-89f2-07444436f38c","order_by":16,"name":"Carol Dweck","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Carol","middleName":"","lastName":"Dweck","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-12-08 02:40:08","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8302846/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8302846/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":98441408,"identity":"26dcaf51-2730-4ee2-81c8-fab7666fd4ad","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-17 17:05:20","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1701987,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"YeagerFUSEEvaluation2025NHB127submitted.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8302846/v1_covered_4a20d260-bdb2-4685-a2d6-386af80cfc50.pdf"},{"id":98390830,"identity":"6c2c94cd-b9e1-41be-86b5-fa87527a241e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-17 09:31:06","extension":"docx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":11265638,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplemental Online Information","description":"","filename":"SupplementforYeageretalFUSEevaluation.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8302846/v1/d41299bd1f501de9c8ee6d7a.docx"}],"financialInterests":"\u003cb\u003eYes\u003c/b\u003e there is potential Competing Interest.\nNone of the authors owns a financial stake in any growth mindset product or service for students or teachers. The FUSE program is now available (after evaluation) for purchase at cost to school districts via the University of Texas at Austin, a non-profit academic institution. None of the authors receives pay, owns equity, or has any arrangement for future profit from the FUSE program, and all funds raised from the FUSE program go to support the research and training mission at UT Austin.","formattedTitle":"A Scalable, Theory-Based Intervention to Influence Teachers’ Student Engagement Practices Improves Academic Performance in a State-Wide Sample","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8302846/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8302846/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"What can be done about the crisis of student disengagement? A theoretical analysis led to a novel behavioral intervention that motivated and coached teachers to cultivate a classroom “culture of learning.” This was intended to contradict the typical, disengaging “culture of judgment and evaluation” in secondary schools. The program, called the Fellowship Using the Science of Engagement (FUSE), influenced teachers’ light-touch practices and involved changes to classroom language and communication around student mistakes, confusion, and grades. In doing so, the FUSE program honored teachers as collaborators (rather than passive recipients of “expert wisdom”) and connected them virtually with other teachers in the program and with coaches who were also practicing educators. FUSE was evaluated in 6th to 9th grade math classes in a diverse, state-wide sample of 80 Texas public schools (N = 152 teachers; N=12,432 students). A control group (randomly assigned) received a version of the FUSE program that taught principles of cognitive science and how to apply them to teachers’ math instruction. The pre-registered, conservative, Bayesian analysis showed that the FUSE treatment program changed teachers’ beliefs and behaviors (average treatment effects from .14 to .51 s.d.), led to an estimated effect on student math performance equivalent to an additional 4 months of student learning, and reduced the proportion of teachers who reported feeling “burnt out” by half, while improving teacher well-being by .25 s.d. This is the only known teacher intervention to influence teacher behavior, student performance, and teacher well-being longitudinally in a pre-registered randomized trial that was conducted in a scaled-up manner. Given the relatively low cost of the program (~$25 per student per year) this study highlights the ability of behaviorally-informed interventions to influence teachers’ subtle, culture-building practices and points to their role as an important route to educational improvement.","manuscriptTitle":"A Scalable, Theory-Based Intervention to Influence Teachers’ Student Engagement Practices Improves Academic Performance in a State-Wide Sample","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-12-17 09:31:01","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8302846/v1","editorialEvents":[],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-human-behaviour","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"nathumbehav","sideBox":"Learn more about [Nature Human Behaviour](http://www.nature.com/nathumbehav/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Human Behaviour","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Nature Research","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"d131e101-3129-47d2-8a6f-b232ac176ab8","owner":[],"postedDate":"December 17th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":59766981,"name":"Social science/Psychology/Human behaviour"},{"id":59766982,"name":"Social science/Education"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-01T11:20:53+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-12-17 09:31:01","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8302846","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8302846","identity":"rs-8302846","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}