Replicating a Middle-School Belonging Intervention: Evidence from a Randomized Trial Within a New School District

Recent randomized studies suggest brief social-psychological interventions can help students reappraise common social and academic worries during the difficult transition to middle school and, in turn, improve school performance. We conducted a preregistered student-level randomized controlled trial to assess the replicability of these findings for sixth-grade students transitioning to middle school in three Texas schools (n = 604). Hypothesized main effects for the preregistered confirmatory academic and behavioral outcomes did not replicate. However, exploratory analyses revealed that treatment students with greater numbers of disciplinary referrals during the transition to middle school experienced larger reductions in referrals after intervention than those with fewer baseline referrals. Also, students of color showed greater improvements in their grade point averages after intervention than their white and Asian peers. Non-replicated main effects may be explained by an unusual district context and by evidence suggesting that the intervention mitigated students’ academic worries but did not resolve social worries.