Research Wednesday | May 15th, 2024

Dear Friends,  

This week’s evidence comes from a wonderful new book by Indiana University Professor Mary Murphy, “Cultures of Growth: How the New Science of Mindset Can Transform Individuals, Teams, and Organizations” (2024, Simon & Shuster). Murphy was a graduate student of Carol Dweck at Stanford in the early 2000s and the exciting days of the original Mindset research. But now, almost 20 years later, Murphy provides powerful evidence that the previous emphasis on growth vs. fixed mindset at the individual level must be displaced by two realities. 

First, none of us has an exclusive growth or fixed mindset, but our minds are on a continuum, depending on the organizational environment and the people around us. Second and more importantly, many organizations – and especially schools, fall victim to the “culture of genius” in which the smartest person in the room, whether that’s a 3rd grade student, a cabinet member who dominates the conversation and maintains control over information, or the board member who hogs the microphone. While we love to say that “everybody’s a genius,” objective observation of classrooms and staff meetings reveals that collaboration takes a back seat to the culture of expertise – the very definition of a fixed mindset. 

You know from the Dweck research that a growth mindset provides propound advantages in terms of persistence, resilience, and achievement. But Murphy concludes that the development of a growth culture at the classroom and organizational levels and the growth mindset at the individual doesn’t happen with a workshop, but with specific practices that show that teachers and leaders are serious about supporting the growth mindset. For example, if we really believe that students are able to improve their performance with effective teaching and feedback, then we would never have a one-shot assessment, never use the average, and never have exclusionary practices for advanced classes. You will find many more people who extol the virtues of a growth mindset than those who adopt these fundamentally essential practices. It’s a great book and an important contribution to educational and organizational research.  

Curious about AI in the classroom? Here’s a great YouTube video (and accompanying book) that has specific K-12 classroom examples:

YouTube AI:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FnOkxj0ZuA

 I can be reached at 781.710.9633 or douglas.reeves@creativeleadership.net, if you would like to discuss this week’s research.

Best,

Doug