Achievement Gap and Mindset in United States Justin Zhang 张熹 12 哲学

Achievement Gap in US Hispanic and African-American<White Lower test scores GPA college enrollment rate college completion rate

Possible Explanations Historical and Institutional: Racial segregation Discriminatory school policies vs. Civil Rights Movement and Affirmative Action Little effect(Bali, V. A., & Alvarez, 2003) Socio-economic Status: Though controlled, Achievement Gap still exist Cultural, Environmental and Psychological: Altering mentality and behaviors of students

Theory on Intelligence Incremental Theory: -“Growth Mindset” the belief that intelligence is malleable Intelligence can grow with continued effort Entity Theory: “Fixed Mindset” The belief that intelligence and ability are fixed effort would not pay off “Mindset” Definition: Beliefs about themselves and the school setting

“Fixed Mindset” -Self-doubt in intelligence in the face of difficulty -Avoid challenges,cripple perseverance and learning -Unproductive beliefs about effort and resilience -Fail to ask for necessary help -More result rather than process orientated - “Glass Ceiling Effect”

“Growth Mindset” positive achievement value: effort--- achievement Challenges are chances of improvement More process and learning oriented Resilient and would seek help if necessary “I want to do this because it is so hard”.

Growth Mindset predicted improvement

Intervention teaching Growth Mindset

Psychological Explanation many of the important social environmental conditions have an influence through the psychology of the child some ethnic minority children devalue effort and hard work partly because they perceive and recognize that racial inequality can limit their social and economic mobility. They can be less likely to embrace the achievement ideology that hard work in school would pay off in the future.

Factors that may change mindset Social stereotype, identity threat and self-affirmation -Girls are not good at science,math and engineering? Classroom environment Parent involvement Is parent more process and learning oriented or result oriented?

Praise and mindset Praise for intelligence: ——“Fixed Mindset” Negative consequences for student achievement motivation Praise for effort(Process, Performance Praise) —— “Growth Mindset”

References Bali, V. A., & Alvarez, R. M. (2003). Schools and educational outcomes: What causes the "race gap" in student test scores?Social Science Quarterly, 84(3), doi: Yeung, W. J., & Conley, D. (2008). Black-white achievement gap and family wealth. Child Development, 79(2), doi: x Taylor, A. Z., & Graham, S. (2007). An examination of the relationship between achievement values and perceptions of barriers among low-SES african american and latino students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(1), doi: Blackwell, L. S., Trzesniewski, K. H., & Dweck, C. S. (2007). Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention. Child Development, 78(1), doi: Yeager, D. S., Paunesku, D., Walton, G., & Dweck, C. S. (2013, May). How can we instill productive mindsets at scale? A review of the evidence and an initial R&D agenda. In white paper prepared for the White House meeting on “Excellence in Education: The Importance of Academic Mindsets,” available here. Mueller, C. M., & Dweck, C. S. (1998). Praise for intelligence can undermine children's motivation and performance. Journal of personality and social psychology, 75(1), 33. Bell, B. S., & Kozlowski, W. J. (2002). Goal orientation and ability: Interactive effects on self-efficacy, performance, and knowledge. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(3), doi: Nichols, J. D., & Zhang, G. (2011). Classroom environments and student empowerment: An analysis of elementary and secondary teacher beliefs. Learning Environments Research, 14(3), doi: Lee, J., & Bowen, N. K. (2006). Parent involvement, cultural capital, and the achievement gap among elementary school children. American Educational Research Journal, 43(2), doi: Sherman, D. K., Hartson, K. A., Binning, K. R., Purdie-Vaughns, V., Garcia, J., Taborsky-Barba, S.,... Cohen, G. L. (2013). Deflecting the trajectory and changing the narrative: How self-affirmation affects academic performance and motivation under identity threat. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104(4), doi: