Let’s start with a foundational question: Do you believe intelligence is fixed, or can it be developed? That might seem like a yes/no question, but it holds the key to a world of difference in the classroom. Carol Dweck and Ellen Leggett, in their 1988 article “A Social-Cognitive Approach to Motivation and Personality,” describe two core beliefs:
- Entity Theory of Intelligence (often referred to as a “fixed mindset”): The belief that intelligence is a static trait, something you either have or don’t.
- Incremental Theory of Intelligence (often referred to as a “growth mindset”): The belief that intelligence can be cultivated through effort, intentional practice, and persistence.
Students who view intelligence as static often worry about measuring up (or not) and may choose easier tasks just to show off or protect themselves from failure. Meanwhile, those who see intelligence as flexible welcome challenges. To them, a challenge is just more evidence of learning and growth ahead.
Here’s how mindset directly intersects with standards-based instruction:
- Motivation and Goals: Dweck and Leggett argue that students with a fixed (entity) perspective often adopt performance goals. They’re primarily concerned with proving how “smart” they are on quizzes or standardized tests. By contrast, those with a growth (incremental) mindset set mastery goals, focusing on improving competence over time. In the context of, say, reading informational texts, a student with mastery goals is more likely to push through a challenging passage, glean new vocabulary, and refine comprehension skills even if it doesn’t go perfectly at first.
- Responses to Failure: We’ve all met the student who, after one difficult test, announces, “I’m just not a math person” (me in 4th grade). A fixed mindset can fuel that unproductive conclusion. On the other hand, the student with a growth mindset might say, “This is tough, but if I keep trying the practice problems and reviewing the instructions, I’ll get it.”
- Classroom Culture: When we emphasize that intelligence can grow, we reshape how students see challenges. “The extent to which an individual believes change is possible largely determines their ability to affect change.” By creating a culture that celebrates progress toward mastery (rather than simple proof of ability), we strengthen resilience. In line with standards’ emphasis on students’ ability to read closely, question evidence, and persist in comprehending complex texts, a growth mindset environment aligns beautifully with deeper, more critical engagement.
Common Misunderstandings About Growth Mindset
It’s easy to misunderstand growth mindset. Some oversimplify Dweck’s work into motivational phrases while ignoring that, yes, innate ability does matter. Believing intelligence is 100% malleable isn’t quite accurate; some of us have natural propensities (whether in reading fluency or computational thinking). But it’s also true that effort can yield meaningful, and sometimes surprisingly large, gains particularly over time.
Another popular misconception is that teaching growth mindset is an easy fix. Just a quick lesson on “Your brain grows when you work hard,” and poof! everything changes. Research by David S. Yeager, Elizabeth Tipton, and others suggests that mindset interventions may have varied results in large-scale classroom settings (I saw some positive effects when I implemented a growth mindset intervention at Harney Middle School). That doesn’t diminish their value; it just reminds us that a growth mindset works best when integrated into everyday teaching, daily routines, and genuine feedback rather than one-off “inspiration days.”
Practical Ways to Nurture a Growth Mindset
- Set Mastery-Oriented Objectives: Rather than saying, “Let’s all try to get an A on the vocabulary test,” consider objectives like, “Let’s master the new words so we can discuss our next reading with confidence.” Tying lessons directly to standards “We need to identify and use domain-specific vocabulary to compare informational texts” reinforces the learning goal.
- Model Targeted Feedback: In reading comprehension, for instance, if a student struggles to summarize main ideas, offer feedback like, “You used the subheadings well to find the big concepts, let’s explore how to connect them.” This encourages mastery instead of labeling the student “bad at summarizing.”
- Celebrate Mistakes as Learning Moments: More experienced students could keep an “Aha Journal” in which students jotted down mistakes they made and how they improved from them. It could become a fun, proud log of progress. It also aligned with standards that require systematically improving reading and writing skills, acknowledging errors, refining the strategy, and trying again.
- Collaborate and Reflect: Ask students reflective questions: “What was challenging about that problem, and how did you push through?” or “What strategies helped you dissect that primary source document?” By linking these reflections to formal standards like citing textual evidence or learning how to break down paragraphs, students see how their efforts directly fuel growth.
- Encourage Growth Among Educators Too: Finally, it’s not only students who need a growth mindset. As principals, instructional coaches, or teachers, we should share best practices, stay informed on research, and keep tweaking our approach. Modeling that spirit ourselves is one of the most potent demonstrations we can offer our students.
The Challenge
Yes, certain attributes and talents are innate. Yet if you’ve ever seen a student go from “I hate reading” to finishing a novel just because they found themselves encouraged to grow, you realize mindset matters. The challenge for us is: How will we foster these beliefs in our classrooms every single day?
Pick one specific way to shift a class from performance to mastery goals. Maybe it’s a new reflection process, a revised feedback style, or a fresh way of introducing a lesson objective. Try it for a few weeks and observe any changes in how students respond to difficulty. Share your observations with colleagues, compare notes, and keep that growth cycle going for everyone in your building.
Dweck, C. S., & Leggett, E. L. (1988). “A Social-Cognitive Approach to Motivation and Personality.” Psychological Review, 95, 256–273.
For more information on this concept, read How Learning Happens: Seminal Works in Educational Psychology and What They Mean in Practice (https://a.co/d/a0tZSMR) This post is a summary of concepts from How Learning Happens.
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