I Think You Can

[338 words] Robert Rosenthal came to teachers with a new test called the Harvard Test of Inflected Acquisition. This test, he informed the instructors, could accurately predict kids that would excel in the coming year. The test was administered and the teachers were given the names of potentially high-achieving students. Rosenthal expressed to them that these kids were special and that even if they might not have done well in the past, they showed unusual potential for growth.  The test proved itself right. Those students it selected scored better and improved more. The first graders gained 27 IQ points versus only 12 for the rest of the class. In second grade, the potentially high achievers gained 17 points versus only seven by the rest of the class.  The result might be right, but the test wasn’t. Rosenthal selected the kids at random. Nothing was different about them. What really changed…