Saturday, June 2, 2018

Making Mountains Out of Molehills: Mindfulness and Growth Mindsets


Critical Research Questions the Impact of Both

[CLICK HERE for the Full Version of this Blog]


Dear Colleagues,

   One of my biggest professional frustrations is when districts and schools say that they do not have time for professional development or “new programs” . . . and then they invest time, money, and staff development on popular “band-wagon” programs or strategies that have no, minimal, or potentially negative effects on student or staff outcomes.

   Such is the case with professional development and school training programs that invest (lose?) instructional time on increasing students’ Mindfulness and Growth Mindsets, respectively. 

   Indeed, while the research in the former area is questionable at best, the Growth Mindset research is largely sound—but it does/has not translated into functional or practical approaches that change consistently students’ behavior or academic outcomes.

   Previously, I have discussed the (NOT) quality of the Mindfulness “research,” and addressed its “motherhood and apple pie” marketing, testimonials, and misplaced popularity.  In this Blog, I review this research, and then discuss a new meta-analytic study on Growth Mindset that every educator needs to understand.
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Where Have We Been on Mindfulness?

   During the past few years, I have devoted at least four Blogs to the Mindfulness “movement.”

   In my February 13, 2016 Blog, I critically reviewed four research articles on Mindfulness that were published in 2013.

   And then, starting at the beginning of November 2017, we published a three-part Blog Series focusing on the implicit goal of most Mindfulness programs or approaches:

To help students to be more aware and in control of
their emotions, thoughts, and behavior.

   During this Series, we analyzed the research and practice of Mindfulness, concluding that—from an objective, data-based perspective—the approach does not deliver on this stated goal.

   In order to focus educators’ attention on the best, research-based processes that DO meet this goal, we discussed how cognitive-behavioral strategies and interventions have over 35 years of research supporting their social, emotional, and behavioral efficacy with children, adolescents, and adults.

   We then mused:

   What would happen—relative to the goals above—if schools invested the same time, training, and attention to cognitive-behavioral strategies, with their longstanding record of student success. . . instead of a passing fad that educators will recall in the future with a deep breath and a roll of their collective eyes?

   The research from these four previous Blogs is summarized in this current Blog so that educators who are using Mindfulness approaches in their schools can rethink their “return on investment.” 

   For educators considering these approaches, the recommendation is self-evident.
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Growth Mindsets:  Introduction and Context

   Dr. Carol Dweck’s Growth Mindset (Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, 2006) is based on her long-standing and well-established research at Stanford University that investigates how students’ cognitive self-beliefs and attributions affect their motivation and achievement.

   At its core, her research asserts that students tend to achieve better when they have a “mindset” where they regard their intelligence and achievement not as fixed traits (that they either have or do not have), but as attributes that can be improved through effort.
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   A new study analyzing the cumulative effect size from over 229 research studies investigating the impact of Growth Mindsets was just published (April 1, 2018) in the Psychological Science Association Journal.

   Reviewed in this Blog message, the study reported a “very tiny” meta-analytic effect size (0.08) across these studies involving over 365,000 students.  Additional analyses correlating mindset interventions with students’ academic achievement found that age, and the length and type of intervention were not significant factors.  In addition, very small effect sizes were found for students who had failed a class, or were at-risk of dropping out. 

   In an interview after the publication of the study, one of its authors talked about how:

(M)edia bias plays a role in how people perceive the effects of certain teaching strategies. She cited instances where reporters contacted her to write about her research, only to retract when they learned that the findings were not what they expected. From her perspective, research showing small or null effects do not garner as much attention, in the form of citations or media mentions, the same way more grandiose outcomes do. This might be what happened with growth mindset studies.

“Studies that are especially exciting or shows especially large effect often are the ones that are cited over and over again, so even if you’re just reading the published literature you tend to get a sense that these effects perhaps are very large,” says Macnamara. “Aggregating synthesized data gets you a very different picture.”
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Summary and Recommendations

   For districts, schools, and administrators thinking about implementing a Mindfulness or Growth Mindset program, please think twice.

   For districts, schools, and administrators who have already committed to and/or are implementing a Mindfulness or Growth Mindset program, we understand the potential frustration and cognitive dissonance of being told that the research simply does not support these approaches.

   We cannot change the research.

   We can only suggest that if you are going to (eventually) have to discard an unsuccessful program . . . or if the “positive” results that you are getting are not real, data-based, or objectively determined. . . you might as well “bite the bullet” now.

   Why would you go through another school year (i.e., 2018-2019) doing something that will not work, and that will need to be changed?

   The Blog discusses the research in more detail, and suggests “alternative” evidence-based and field-tested solutions that can be implemented in a short period of time. . . with a much higher return.

   Please read the entire Blog [CLICK HERE].

   What do you think? 

Best,

Howie

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