Teachers’ Growth Mindsets and the Differential Treatment of High- and Low-Ability Students

Abstract

We examined the relation between teachers’ beliefs about the nature of intelligence (their growth mindsets) and their treatment of high versus low ability students. Teachers with weaker growth mindsets reported being more likely to use restrictive instructional practices (controlling and performance-oriented) overall than teachers with stronger growth mindsets, and teachers were more likely to use restrictive practices when working with a low-ability student than when working with a high-ability student. By contrast, the hypothesized student ability level ́ teacher growth mindset ́ instructional practice type. A number of important potential limitations and their implications for future research on these relations are discussed.

A QuantCrit Investigation of Instructional and Testing Practices in U.S. Mathematics Classes

“…Teachers' perceptions about the students in their class also greatly contribute to discrepancies between their stated general beliefs and specific pedagogical decisions within a given class. The interactions between teachers' practices and their beliefs about students' perceived abilities to engage with higher-level mathematics are well studied, with consistent findings that teachers often use more traditional techniques with groups of students they see as less capable (Beswick, 2004;Bosse et al, 2011;Bray, 2011;Browman et al, 2020;Cross, 2009;Pagiling et al, 2021;Park et al, 2016;Sztajn, 2003;A. G. Thompson, 1984).…”