What the research I’ve described here makes clear, I hope, is that the trajectory that children’s lives follow can sometimes be redirected by things that might at first seem, to the adults in their lives, to be small and insignificant. The tone of a parent’s voice. The words a teacher writes on a Post-it note. The way a math class is organized. The extra time that a mentor or a coach takes to listen to a child facing a challenge. Those personal actions can create powerful changes, and those individual changes can resonate on a national scale.
This is a great argument for the importance of a teacher's work. Through small acts, they can make a profound difference.