Press release

Sometimes schools or districts want to announce a new growth mindset initiative. The text below might be a useful starting place for such an announcement.

Press Release

Headline: [SCHOOL OR DISTRICT NAME] Launches Growth Mindset Initiative

Research shows that students who believe their intelligence can grow with effort and practice - like a muscle - do better in school and in life. This belief is called a growth mindset. Students with a growth mindset understand that they have control over their own success. They are more motivated to work hard; they put more effort into their schoolwork; they are more resilient in the face of obstacles; and they ultimately do better in school. In contrast, students who believe intelligence is set at birth - like eye color - have what is called a fixed mindset. They tend to do worse academically because they give up when challenged and think that having to work hard means you don’t ‘have what it takes’. The good news is that mindsets can be changed, and when they are, students show a significant increase in their academic achievement.

[SCHOOL OR DISTRICT NAME] is excited to announce our new growth mindset initiative to help our students develop this important mindset. We will be [EXPLAIN WHAT YOUR SCHOOL WILL BE DOING. FOR EXAMPLE, TEACHER PD, TALKS FOR PARENTS ETC] using free, evidence-based tools and resources developed by Stanford University’s PERTS research center (www.perts.net). PERTS (the Project for Education Research That Scales) recognizes that with the importance of growth mindset research getting more and more media attention, teachers and parents are eager to know how they can bring this work to their students. However, most of the interventions and research around mindsets focus on direct delivery to students and not on how educators can participate in helping students develop a growth mindset. With generous support from the Raikes Foundation, PERTS has embarked on a mission to create the Mindset Kit (www.mindsetkit.org)—a website with free resources for teachers and parents. They are turning what researchers have learned about mindsets that help students reach their full potential into accessible information and practical recommendations for teachers and parents.

Their work has been featured in Education Week, EdSurge, KQED Mindshift, The Wall Street Journal, and New York Times Magazine.

You may also want to use our official press release for the Mindset Kit, which can be found here.