Mindset and standardized testing over time Krystal L. McCutchen a, ⁎, Martin H. Jones a , Kira J. Carbonneau b , Christian E. Mueller c a Department of Individual, Family and Community Education, University of New Mexico, United States b Department of Educational Leadership, Sport Studies, and Educational/Counseling Psychology, Washington State University, United States c Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Research, University of Memphis, United States abstract article info Article history: Received 16 June 2015 Received in revised form 25 September 2015 Accepted 27 November 2015 Available online xxxx A longitudinal study was conducted over three semesters within 28 classrooms, in seven schools, with a total of 419 participants to examine the relationship between students' mindset and their standardized test perfor- mance. Students in grades 3–6 completed questionnaires in the fall and spring semester across two school years. In addition, students completed standardized testing in math and reading. Multi-level models allowed for a 2-level model suggesting a link between time and academic achievement. Academic achievement and mindset related across the time points. Results suggest that initial mindset has an impact on students' academic achievement, with students who initially reported a more growth oriented mindset having a slower decline on test scores than students with a more fixed mindset. © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Mindset Standardized testing Implicit theory of intelligence Motivation Achievement mindset and standardized testing over time 1. Introduction Over the past several decades, researchers demonstrated that students tend to hold self-beliefs about the stability or malleability of their academic abilities (Chen & Pajares, 2010; Dweck, 1999; Dweck & Legett, 1988; Dweck & Molden, 2005; Yeager & Dweck, 2012). These self-beliefs, termed mindsets, can either be fixed (unchangeable) or growth (malleable) (Dweck, 1999). When students hold growth mindsets, sometimes referenced as incremental beliefs, they believe their abilities can improve, which leads to higher grades and greater academic persistence (Dweck, 2006; Dweck, 2012; Yeager & Dweck, 2012). In contrast, students with fixed mindsets, or entity beliefs, gener- ally have lower achievement, especially when facing difficult academic tasks since a fixed mindset inhibits their belief in overcoming academic obstacles (Dweck, 2006; Dweck & Molden, 2005). There is reason to believe that one's mindset could be affected by en- vironmental and intra-individual factors (Bandura, 1986; Flay, Snyder, & Petraitis, 2009). The Theory of Triadic Influence (TTI) helps explain how different sources of influence affect peoples' adoption of beliefs and behaviors. TTI proposes that intrapersonal (e.g., personal character- istics, achievement), interpersonal (e.g., classmates), and contextual (e.g., the classroom) factors affect self-beliefs (e.g., mindsets; Flay, et al., 2009). TTI suggests that changes in human beliefs are mutually affected by individuals' characteristics and their social interactions within a socio-cultural environment. That is, TTI supports the possibility that interactions between students and teachers provide opportunity to transmit beliefs about mindsets within the classroom setting. Previous research suggests that students' motivation aligns with their teacher's beliefs due to the students' presence in the teacher's classroom environment (e.g., Baker, Dilly, Aupperlee, & Patil, 2003). In addition, students' academic achievement and previous beliefs affects current self-beliefs (Dweck & Legett, 1988; Dweck & Molden, 2005; Murdock, Anderman, & Hodge, 2000). Less understood is whether achievement, classroom setting, and students' prior beliefs alters mindsets, especially over time. Therefore, the current paper longitudi- nally explores whether changes in mindsets can be partially explained by the intrapersonal and interpersonal factor associations among students' mindsets, classroom contexts, and academic achievement. 1.1. Mindsets Mindsets are considered to be a range of self-beliefs, with a fixed mindset on one end of a scale and growth mindset on the other (Dweck & Leggett, 1988). Within this range, fixed mindset implies a student's belief that a given ability is unchangeable (Dweck & Leggett, 1988). A growth mindset implies a belief that students can change their ability through effort (Dweck & Leggett, 1988). The main contrast between the two types of mindsets is around the idea of change. When students believe their abilities can change, they have greater perceived self-control over the outcome of future academic events and focus more on learning the material (Yeager & Dweck, 2012). Additionally, Learning and Individual Differences xxx (2015) xxx–xxx ⁎ Corresponding author at: Department of Individual, Family and Community Education, University of New Mexico, MSC 05 3040, 1, Albuquerque, NM 87131, United States. E-mail address: KMcCutchen@salud.unm.edu (K.L. McCutchen). LEAIND-01195; No of Pages 6 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2015.11.027 1041-6080/© 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Learning and Individual Differences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/lindif Please cite this article as: McCutchen, K.L., et al., Mindset and standardized testing over time, Learning and Individual Differences (2015), http:// dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2015.11.027