Do you need a roadmap or can someone give you directions: When school-focused possible identities change so do academic trajectories.

•People assume changing school-focused possible identities changes grades.•But evidence that such changes occur or matters for grades is lacking.•And coding open-ended responses is onerous especially at scale.•We tested and found that change is common and does affect grades.•We share our machine code to do so, so others may use it as well.