Together with having good teachers and supportive parents, behavioral science can be leveraged and have an important impact even in the realm of education. Some examples of how behavioral science has been used for student success include:
Efforts aimed to simplify information to help students and families understand educational options and make informed choices, including prompts for students to complete important tasks before they missed binding deadlines.
Behaviorally-informed flyers that present simple steps to help families enroll their children in public school.
behaviorally-informed outreach to increase parental engagement in their children’s education.
changing the status quo of how college entrance exams are administered, in order to increase the share of lower-income and underrepresented students who take the entrance exams. Changes include: having additional testing centers that are closer to lower-income families, and changing the default so that all students in a specific area can take the college entrance exam at school (rather than requiring students and families to actively sign up for the test.)
animated videos and class activities that explain how our brains are capable of growth and not fixed
I'm so impressed by Angela Duckworth, pioneering psychologist and founder of the non-profit Character Lab, whose mission there is to advance scientific insights that help students thrive.