Assessment and growth mindset

How can we change the associations and expectations that students have concerning assessments ?

Change the experience of assessments:TOP 4 TIPS:Make them:1. More commonplace.2. Low stakes:• No grades.• Students track scores.• Only progress matters – have they improved on last time?• Praise effort – not attainment.

3. Prove to students they are making progress:• Use the same questions over and over.• Reward progress with merits and shouting from the rooftops.

4. Distributed learning – use the same quiz 1 week, 1 month etc later

Upcoming Challenges?Albert and Bernard just become friends with

Cheryl, and they want to know when her birthday is.

Cheryl gives them a list of possible dates.May 15 May 16 May 19

June 17 June 18July 14 July 16

August 14 August 15 August 17Cheryl then tells Albert and Bernard

separately the month and the day of her birthday respectively.

Albert: I don't know when Cheryl's birthday is, but I know that Bernard does not know

too.Bernard: At first I don't know when Cheryl's

birthday is, but I know now.Albert: Then I also know when Cheryl's

birthday is.So when is Cheryl's birthday?











Albert: I don’t know when Cheryl’s birthday is, but I know that Bernard doesn’t know too.All Albert knows is the month, and every month has more than one possible date, so of course he doesn’t know when her birthday is. The first part of the sentence is redundant.The only way that Bernard could know the date with a single number, however, would be if Cheryl had told him 18 or 19, since of the ten date options only these numbers appear once, as May 19 and June 18.For Albert to know that Bernard does not know, Albert must therefore have been told July or August, since this rules out Bernard being told 18 or 19.Line 2) Bernard: At first I don’t know when Cheryl’s birthday is, but now I know.Bernard has deduced that Albert has either August or July. If he knows the full date, he must have been told 15, 16 or 17, since if he had been told 14 he would be none the wiser about whether the month was August or July. Each of 15, 16 and 17 only refers to one specific month, but 14 could be either month.Line 3) Albert: Then I also know when Cheryl’s birthday is.Albert has therefore deduced that the possible dates are July 16, Aug 15 and Aug 17. For him to now know, he must have been told July. Since if he had been told August, he would not know which date for certain is the birthday.The answer, therefore is July 16.

Drawing Parallels: The placebo effectWhat evidence for the effectiveness of mindset is there outside of education?


MilkshakesExerciseMedicine (painkillers etc)





Drawing Parallels: The placebo effectWhat evidence for the effectiveness of mindset is there outside of education?“What the placebo affect really is, is a powerful, robust and consistent demonstration of the ability of our mindsets..to recruit healing properties in the body.”Dr. Alia Crumb

“What the placebo affect really is, is a powerful, robust and consistent demonstration of the ability of our mindsets..to recruit healing properties in the body.”Dr. Alia Crumb


• Electrical activity in the brain was measured when students were confronted with a wrong answer.

• Students with a Growth Mindset responded with much higher levels of engagement and activity than those with a fixed mindset.



Simple – Change the experience of assessments:Make them:• More commonplace.• Low stakes:• No grades.• Students track scores.• Only progress matters – have they improved on last time?• Praise effort – not attainment.

• Prove to the students they are making progress:• Use the same questions over and over.• Start very simple so your group can make progress.

• Reward progress with merits and shouting from the rooftops.• Overlearn – your (valid) excuse for students getting 10/10 more once!• Even outside of assessments – give students a chance to show off how much they have improved – give them the same question.


Simple – Change the experience of assessments:

Lastly – remember to role model what you want to see:• Tell them they will get better, with practice.• Tell them it doesn’t matter (it doesn’t count after all).• Tell them they get another shot tomorrow.• Ask yourself if it was worth discussing / feeding back on, is it worth doing one more time to prove to students they have improved?





















Albert: I don’t know when Cheryl’s birthday is, but I know that Bernard doesn’t know too.All Albert knows is the month, and every month has more than one possible date, so of course he doesn’t know when her birthday is. The first part of the sentence is redundant.The only way that Bernard could know the date with a single number, however, would be if Cheryl had told him 18 or 19, since of the ten date options only these numbers appear once, as May 19 and June 18.For Albert to know that Bernard does not know, Albert must therefore have been told July or August, since this rules out Bernard being told 18 or 19.Line 2) Bernard: At first I don’t know when Cheryl’s birthday is, but now I know.Bernard has deduced that Albert has either August or July. If he knows the full date, he must have been told 15, 16 or 17, since if he had been told 14 he would be none the wiser about whether the month was August or July. Each of 15, 16 and 17 only refers to one specific month, but 14 could be either month.Line 3) Albert: Then I also know when Cheryl’s birthday is.Albert has therefore deduced that the possible dates are July 16, Aug 15 and Aug 17. For him to now know, he must have been told July. Since if he had been told August, he would not know which date for certain is the birthday.The answer, therefore is July 16.

Growth Mindset: The evidence

Growth Mindset: The evidence

Assessment and growth mindset

Education