Negative feelings can have a disastrous impact on student performance. Such negativity can be easily combated, however, explains UC Berkeley Professor, David L. Kirp, in a recent New York Times article. Kirp describes strategies such as showing students that they have the capacity for intellectual growth, using constructive feedback, and affirming students’ sense of self worth and value. As teachers and administrators, we are responsible for the success of all of our students. Helping students to remove barriers to performance, such as negative feelings or a academic insecurities, can have a lasting positive impact, particularly for those students most at risk.