Do Students Improve Their Academic Achievement When Assigned to a Growth Mindset Teacher?

Abstract

Growing evidence shows that a student’s growth mindset (the belief that intelligence is malleable) can benefit their academic achievement. However, less is known about how a teacher’s growth mindset affects their students’ academic performance. In this article, we study the impact of being assigned to a teacher with a growth mindset in a nationwide sample from Chile. Using data from two subject teachers per student, we find that having a teacher with a growth mindset increases standardized test scores by approximately 0.02 SD. The effect is larger for students with high grade point averages and those from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Exploratory analysis suggests that growth mindset teachers are more likely to employ effective classroom practices than those with a fixed mindset.

Keywords

correlational analysis econometric analysis economics of education effect size fixed effect fixed mindset growth mindset regression analyses school/teacher effectiveness student academic achievement teacher characteristics teachers

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