TLDR
A brief online lesson helped struggling ninth graders earn better grades and encouraged more students to choose harder math classes. It worked best where classmates generally supported taking on challenging schoolwork.
Summary
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1 Study Aim
The study aimed to test whether a brief online growth mindset intervention (a lesson teaching that intellectual abilities can develop) could improve ninth-grade achievement nationwide. The authors predicted larger grade improvements among lower-achieving students. They also examined whether school achievement levels and peer norms (the usual behaviors supported by classmates) changed the intervention’s effects. The study tested whether a short lesson could improve grades, especially for students already struggling.
2 Study Design
The National Study of Learning Mindsets used a stratified random sample of 65 regular US public schools and 12,490 ninth-grade students. Students were randomly assigned within schools to two online sessions lasting about 25 minutes each, or to an active control lesson about brain functions. The main analysis used intention-to-treat methods (comparing students as assigned). It examined administrative grades, student mindset reports, and later mathematics-course enrollment. Researchers preregistered analyses, blinded key staff, and conducted a blinded Bayesian causal forest analysis (a conservative method for testing differing effects). Researchers compared randomly assigned students across many public schools using school records and carefully checked the results.
3 Findings
Among 6,320 lower-achieving students, the intervention reduced fixed mindset beliefs (the belief that intelligence cannot change) and raised core-course GPA (grade point average, a summary of course grades) by 0.10 points. It lowered the estimated share earning below 2.0 from 46% to 41%. Effects were stronger where peer challenge-seeking norms supported difficult work. Grades improved less in the highest-achieving schools, although advanced mathematics enrollment rose three percentage points overall, including four points there. Because school norms were observed rather than assigned, they cannot prove that norms caused the differences. The authors recommend testing interventions alongside changes to school environments. The lesson improved grades for struggling students and increased harder math enrollment, especially where classmates welcomed challenges.