May 2013
Excellence in Education: The Importance of Academic Mindsets

Research has increasingly shown that there is more to student success than cognitive ability,curriculum and instruction. Students’ mindsets—their beliefs about themselves and the school setting—can powerfully affect whether students learn and grow in school. For example, when students have a fixed mindset, they believe that their intelligence is something that is finite and unchangeable. This makes them doubt their intelligence when they experience difficulty and it undermines resilience and learning. However, when students have more of a growth mindset, they believe that intelligence can be developed. In this mindset, students respond more resiliently to challenges and show greater learning and achievement in the face of difficulty. Randomized experimental studies find that even brief interventions that convey a growth mindset can have important, lasting effects on student learning and performance.