Create a Growth Mindset School

An Administrator's Guide to Leading a Growth Mindset Community

Mary Cay Ricci

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000491319
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Principals and district administrators will learn ways to develop, sustain, monitor, and lead schools and districts striving for growth mindset learning environments. This book includes guidance in the areas of growth mindset hiring, feedback, systemic professional learning, and ways to evaluate present processes and protocols through a growth mindset lens. A mindset reflection tool allows education leaders to consider their own mindset thinking. Guidance and suggestions for embedding growth mindset learning through curriculum, instruction, and grading are also included in this valuable resource. Attributes of growth mindset leaders are presented in this guidebook for leading in a growth mindset district!

CHAPTER 1
Leading With a Growth Mindset

DOI: 10.4324/9781003233855-1

Imagine a learning community where expectations are high for staff and students, optimism is palpable, mistakes are expected, struggle is embraced, equitable access to advanced learning is the norm, perseverance and resiliency are valued, and growth is the focus, not grades ... a safe place where ideas are welcomed without judgment, adults and students persevere when facing barriers, and all educators believe that all students (and teachers) can be successful.

The school community that is described above is one where both adults and children apply a growth mindset—the belief that intelligence, talents, and skills are malleable and can be developed. The idea that intelligence can grow and improve in both children and adults has seen more popularity in recent years thanks to the work of Stanford University professor of psychology Dr. Carol Dweck. Her research and development of the fixed and growth mindset theory has also contributed to a major shift in thinking about administrator and teacher expectations, student learning, and intelligence.

Dweck (2006) described a belief system that asserts that intelligence and talent are malleable and can be developed—she coined the term growth mindset to describe this belief system. Learners with a growth mindset believe that with perseverance, resiliency, and the appropriate strategies, they can learn and improve. It might take some struggle, mistakes, and failure along the way, but they understand that with focused perseverance and resiliency, they can succeed. The focus of growth mindset thinking is on the process of learning, not on the final outcome or grade. An educator with a growth mindset believes that with effort, hard work, and application of strategies, all students can demonstrate significant growth, and therefore, all students deserve challenging instructional opportunities. Add to this belief an effective teacher armed with instructional tools that differentiate, respond to learners' needs, and nurture critical thinking processes, and you have a recipe for optimum student learning.

growth mindset

a belief system that suggests that one's intelligence, skills, and talents can be grown or developed with perseverance, resiliency, and application of appropriate strategies

Dweck (2006) also presented a different belief system about intelligence—a fixed mindset. A fixed mindset is the belief that intelligence, skills, and talents are things you are born with; they have a genetic component; and your level of intelligence and talents cannot be changed. A person with a fixed mindset might truly believe that he has a predetermined amount of intelligence, skills, or talents. This belief system is problematic for our students at both ends of the continuum. For those students who are not performing at grade level or do not perceive themselves as "smart," a fixed mindset becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy; because these students don't really believe that they can be successful, they will often give up and not put forth effort. For those students who are advanced learners, a fixed mindset can lead them to be consumed with "looking smart" at all costs. They may coast through school without really putting forth much effort, yet they are often praised for their good "work," grades, and strong skills. Often, an advanced learner with a fixed mindset will start avoiding situations where she may fail; she can become "risk averse."

fixed mindset

a belief system that suggests that a person has a predetermined amount of intelligence, skills, or talents

Think about your own mindset. Your mindset refers to your personal beliefs and thinking that influence your behavior and attitude toward yourself and others. Your mindset directly influences how your team feels about the school or office culture and how they view themselves as part of the school or office. An educator's mindset directly influences how children feel about themselves and how they view themselves as learners. A child's mindset directly affects how he or she faces academic challenges. A child with a growth mindset perseveres even in the face of barriers. A child with a fixed mindset may give up easily, lack resiliency, and not engage in the learning process. Believing that all adults and children can succeed, with effort, perseverance, resiliency, and effective strategies, is the heart of a growth mindset belief.

Why Lead With a Growth Mindset?

As education leaders, we make a lot of decisions every day: budgets, student placement, curriculum/instruction, behavior and intervention, etc. By the end of this book, you will be ready to make these everyday decisions through a growth mindset lens, which will contribute to an environment of growth in your school or office.

The Wallace Foundation (2013) identified key practices that effective education leaders do well in its report The School Principal as Leader: Guiding Schools to Better Teaching and Learning. The first (and, I would argue, the most important) of these practices is:

Shaping a vision of academic success for all students. (p. 4)

This practice requires a growth mindset from everyone in a school building, not just leadership. Porter et al. (2008) from Vanderbilt University asserted,

The research literature over the last quarter century has consistently supported the notion that having high expectations for all, including clear and public standards, is one key to closing the achievement gap between advantaged and less advantaged students and for raising the overall achievement of all students, (p. 13)

Effective education leaders work to establish a community-wide vision of commitment to high expectations and the success of all students. This is particularly important as we address both the achievement and opportunity gap. Leaders have tried countless ways to accomplish this goal with varying levels of success. But there is a way to accomplish this goal: Build a growth mindset learning community!

Discussion Questions

• ❭ Shaping a vision of academic success for all students is a key practice for education administrators. What does this practice have to do with a growth mindset?
• ❭ How might growth mindset thinking contribute to closing the achievement gap between advantaged and less advantaged children?

CHAPTER 2
Reflecting on Your Mindset

DOI: 10.4324/9781003233855-2

During my 28 years as an educator, I have never observed such rapid, sustainably impacting change as that experienced during our student, staff, and parent journey with growth mindset. The positive energy and shift in perspective experienced in our focus to praise effort and hard work and to view situations through the lens of the power of yet have been life-changing for our stakeholders. Both staff and parents have shared personal stories about the impact of understanding the difference between fixed and growth mindset. Growth mindset is not just another initiative, it's truly a change in thinking that shifts culture — it's a way of being!

—Kimberlyn Pratesi, Principal, Hammond Elementary School, Howard County, MD

The first step in the journey toward a growth mindset learning community is to take time to really reflect on your own belief system about intelligence and academic talent. The superintendent sets the tone for the school district; central office administrators influence the tone of curriculum, instruction, and the interworking of the district; and the principal sets the tone for his or her school. Administrators' values, actions, and attitudes significantly impact the culture of the community. We all recognize it when people talk the talk but don't walk the walk. We may state that we have a growth mindset in our role as a leader, but our actions may demonstrate fixed mindset thinking.

The Administrator's Mindset Reflection Tool (see Figure 1) can help you examine your own mindset thinking. The intention of this tool is not to make you feel that your beliefs are being questioned, but simply to suggest where your reactions might lie based on various situations: growth mindset, fixed mindset, or somewhere in the middle. If you have never experienced the described situations in the survey, you may gravitate toward a growth mindset response, given what you have already learned about so far—or you might predict the reaction that you would like to have.

During a quiet time, reflect on the questions and statements. Don't think about what the "right" answer is—if none of the responses reflect how you would react, choose the one that is closest to your reaction or just skip it. I purposely have not asked you to calculate a score and find out if you are a fixed or growth mindset administrator. Why? Because there really isn't any such thing as a growth mindset person or a fixed mindset person. Mindsets come into play based on the situation that you are in—in a variety of situations, you either believe that, with perseverance, some mistakes along the way, and the right set of strategies, achievement will occur, or you believe that some people are not born with the capacity or ability to achieve in a particular area. You can compare your responses to the reflective explanations in Appendix A.

FIGURE 1. Administrator's mindset reflection tool.

There are likely areas of administration where you tend to have more of a growth mindset and other areas where you tend to have a fixed mindset. The following example shows how education leaders may use different mindsets in different situations.

Mr. Smith had been the principal of a K–8 school for 5 years when he learned that the school district would be using a brand-new data management system. Mr. Smith immediately applied fixed mindset thinking to the situation. He thought,

Oh no, it took me about three years to learn everything that the last system could do—I will never get the hang of a new system ... I need to ask my assistant principal (or resource teacher, secretary, etc.] to learn this. Then he (or she) can run the data reports for me.

Mr. Smith's response to a new data management system shows how fixed mindset thinking is often applied to new challenges.

Now let's think about Mr. Smith in a different situation. During his daily classroom walkthroughs, he noticed that one of his new teachers, Mr. Matthews, appeared to be struggling with classroom management. He scheduled a meeting with him and learned that Mr. Matthews was open to all of the suggestions that Mr. Smith had to help with management. Mr. Smith let Mr. Matthews know that he was confident that the management would improve once he got some practice and strategies under his belt. About a week later Mr. Smith noticed some improvement. He left a note on Mr. Matthews's desk that said, "I can see the effort that you have put forth, and it really shows! Your behavior management is not quite there yet, but with some more practice being consistent, you will get there!"

Mr. Smith applied fixed mindset thinking to one situation and growth mindset thinking to another in his role as a principal. The ideal approach, of course, would be to apply growth mindset thinking across all aspects of his job as an administrator.

The results of the Administrator's Mindset Reflection Tool suggest the way your mindset leans at this moment in time. Mindsets can change—with deliberate practice and effort. If you have discovered that you lean toward growth mindset thinking, focus on the items where your thinking leans toward fixed or is in the middle. You might be thinking, "I didn't realize that I actually lean toward growth mindset thinking," or "I thought I had a growth mindset, but my responses lean more toward fixed." The purpose of this short reflection is to help you tune into your own mindset in relation to situations that you might encounter as a principal or central office leader. If you have discovered that you lean toward fixed mindset thinking, think about how you might shift responses and reactions in specific areas.

Why is it important to have a solid understanding of your own mindset beliefs before embarking on building a growth mindset learning community? According to Tschannen Moran (2014),

Discontinuity between word and deed will quickly erode a principal's ability to lead. Setting a positive example is not a task to be flaunted by principals, however; it is more a matter of leading quietly to earn the trust and cooperation of faculty, (p. 256)

This need for trust and cooperation applies to both school and district leadership. You must fully understand what it means to lead with a growth mindset, or you may not be taken seriously School and district leaders who apply growth mindset thinking have the opportunity to empower all educators and students. Our children deserve teachers and administrators who model growth mindset thinking each day.

Consider how you might approach the following scenario.

Two days before the start of the school year, Mrs. Wilson, a high school principal, is approached by an ll th-grade student, Mia, who wants to enroll in an honors science course. Mia has already spoken to her counselor and the department head, who told her that the school has specific criteria (grades and test scores) for participation in honors courses and she does not meet those criteria. Mia asks Mrs. Wils...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• CHAPTER 1 Leading With a Growth Mindset
• CHAPTER 2 Reflecting on Your Mindset
• CHAPTER 3 Leading With Optimism
• CHAPTER 4 Deliberate Cultivation of Perseverance and Resiliency
• CHAPTER 5 Praise arid Feedback
• CHAPTER 6 Setting the Stage for Professional Learning
• CHAPTER 7 Procedures and Policies to Promote a Growth Mindset Environment
• CHAPTER 8 Parent and Community Involvement
• CHAPTER 9 Curriculum and Instruction
• CHAPTER 10 A Growth Mindset School District
• CHAPTER 11 Final Thoughts
• References
• APPENDIX A Administrator's Mindset Reflection Tool: Answer Key
• APPENDIX B Planning for Students' Unmet Academic Needs
• APPENDIX C Introducing Neuroscience in the Classroom
• About the Author