{"id":6675335,"date":"2026-06-07T08:04:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T13:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/?p=6675335"},"modified":"2026-05-14T12:25:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T17:25:39","slug":"does-a-growth-mindset-matter-evidence-from-half-a-million-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/does-a-growth-mindset-matter-evidence-from-half-a-million-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Does a &#8220;Growth Mindset&#8221; Matter? Evidence from Half a Million Students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Few ideas in education have seen a greater pendulum swing than Dr. Carol Dweck&#8217;s concept of <strong>Mindset<\/strong>. When she published her book in 2006, it became the must-read text that launched a thousand posters. Even ten years later, practically every school I visited had a wall of growth mindset catch phrases, and a block-capitals sign that read &#8220;&#8230;YET!&#8221; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2018, the backlash officially began. A <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/29505339\/\">pair of meta-analysis<\/a> &#8212; authored by a team of respected scholars &#8212; could be summarized with the word &#8220;meh.&#8221; The findings could fairly be summarized as: \u201cthe effects are much smaller and less reliable than many advocates claimed.\u201d In brief, according to this meta-analysis, the whole Mindset movement was a bust. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This anti-mindset perspective often takes on a harsh tone. I have colleagues who use the phrase &#8220;still believes in growth mindset&#8221; to mean &#8220;still thinks the earth is flat.&#8221; Some public critics claim that &#8220;mindset interventions work only when Dweck tries them.&#8221; This claim &#8212; which implies that Dr. Dweck puts her thumb on the research scales &#8212; is flatly untrue. (You might disagree with her conclusions, but if you&#8217;ve read any of her work you know how meticulous she is.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A recent study adds to our understanding, and might at last help steady this pendulum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">PISA 2022<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Every few years, fifteen-year olds from across the globe take the Programme for International Student Assessment &#8212; typically shortened to PISA. Because of its global reach, the number of students who take the test, and the demographic and educational information that it gathers, the PISA regularly offers a rich data-bank for analysis. One group of scholars <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosone\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pone.0337039\">looked at the most recent PISA<\/a> to ask<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Is growth midset a thing? More specifically, is a growth mindset associated with higher scores of mathematical ability?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Does it <em>vary by country<\/em>? If so, how?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Does <em>socio-economic status <\/em>matter? If so, how?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Because more than 500,000 students took the PISA that year, this research team has an ENORMOUS amount of data and can look for hard-to-detect effects. Before we get carried away by the reach of this data set, we should note a few limitations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>These data can find correlation, but not causation. That is: scholars can determine if students who have more of a growth mindset score higher on the math section, but they can&#8217;t determine if the mindset <em>caused <\/em>the higher score. (After all: greater ability in math could create a growth mindset.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Scholars learn about the students&#8217; mindset from exactly one question. Students rated their agreement with this statement: \u201cYour intelligence is something about you that you cannot change very much.\u201d The more that students agreed with that statement, the lower their growth mindset score.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>These limitations noted, we can still recognize the potential strengths of this study. If a growth mindset correlates with mathematical ability, then this research should be able to detect even modest associations. If socio-economic status has an influence on that correlation, again, this study should recognize that connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">74 Envelopes, Please<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In one sentence, this study concludes: &#8220;The answer to those questions depends substantially on <em>the country where the students took the test<\/em>.&#8221; The relationship between growth mindset and mathematical ability varies meaningfully among the 74 participating countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In many Anglophone countries &#8212; Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland, the US &#8212; a higher GM correlated with higher math scores. In other countries &#8212; Poland, Greece, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, the Philipines &#8212; the relationship between the two was statistically indistinguishable from zero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The relationship between socio-economic status (SES) and GM also varied from country to country. In Latin America and Southeast Asia, for instance, <strong>high SES <\/strong>students with a GM saw greater math benefits than their <strong>low SES<\/strong> peers. A small group of countries &#8212; Singapore, Austria &#8212; saw the opposite pattern: low SES students benefitted more from a GM than their high SES counterparts. In the US (and other countries), socio-economic status didn&#8217;t particularly influence the relationship between GM and math achievement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Local News<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This global perspective helps us think more wisely about GM questions, but it also distracts us from the question that US-based teachers would like answered: where should the pendulum be? Here in the US, should we be on the &#8220;mindset is a scam!&#8221; end of the continuum, or closer to the &#8220;mindset posters for everyone!&#8221; end?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"410\" src=\"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AdobeStock_430120686-1024x410.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6675380\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AdobeStock_430120686-1024x410.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AdobeStock_430120686-300x120.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AdobeStock_430120686-768x307.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AdobeStock_430120686-1536x614.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AdobeStock_430120686-2048x819.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This study offers a very stats-y answer: &#8220;mindset correlates with math scores, but not lots-n-lots.&#8221; If you speak stats, you&#8217;ll be glad to know that r = 0.28. If you don&#8217;t speak stats, that means &#8220;growth mindset is one factor among many.&#8221; An r of 0.30 is regularly described as &#8220;a clear but modest tendency&#8221;; of course, 0.28 is just shy of 0.30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To say all that in everyday words:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In the US at least, <em>growth mindset isn&#8217;t nothing<\/em>. It correlates &#8212; at least modestly &#8212; with math performance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Based on that finding, I&#8217;ve got three suggestions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>First<\/strong>: we don&#8217;t know that GM training helps; this study doesn&#8217;t consider that question. But we do know that a GM and stronger math scores correlate with each other. For that reason, we should stop belittling mindset researchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Second<\/strong>: more specifically, Dan Willingham made this wise point: &#8220;we know that a GM seems to help in some circumstances, but not in many circumstances. We should try to understand which circumstances go in which categories.&#8221; (To be clear, those are my words, not his.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Third<\/strong>: as I&#8217;ve <a href=\"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/a-beacon-in-the-mindset-wilderness\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"6155\">written before<\/a>, I think it&#8217;s unlikely that <em>telling studetns about mindsets<\/em> will have much of an effect. Instead, we need to change our school&#8217;s policies and procedures to align with growth-mindset thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In sum: teaching is splendid but difficult work. We need all the tools we can get. If mindset can help &#8212; and, in the US, it seems to help a bit &#8212; then we should be open to and curious about that news. Over time, an incremental benefit can yield important results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Dweck, C. S. (2006).&nbsp;<em>Mindset: The new psychology of success<\/em>. Random house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sisk, V. F., Burgoyne, A. P., Sun, J., Butler, J. L., &amp; Macnamara, B. N. (2018). To what extent and under which circumstances are growth mind-sets important to academic achievement? Two meta-analyses.&nbsp;<em>Psychological science<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>29<\/em>(4), 549-571.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Charoensilp, P., Kim, H., &amp; Sriutaisuk, S. (2025). Relationships between growth mindsets and math achievement across socioeconomic status in 74 countries: Evidence from PISA 2022.&nbsp;<em>PloS one<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>20<\/em>(11), e0337039.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Few ideas in education have seen a greater pendulum swing than Dr. Carol Dweck&#8217;s concept of Mindset. When she published her book in 2006, it became the must-read text that launched a thousand posters. Even ten years later, practically every school I visited had a wall of growth mindset catch phrases, and a block-capitals sign [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":6675380,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[20],"class_list":["post-6675335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lb-blog","tag-mindset"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6675335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6675335"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6675335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6675382,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6675335\/revisions\/6675382"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6675380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6675335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6675335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6675335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}