The Power of Believing You Can Get Smarter: The Impact of a Growth-Mindset Intervention on Academic Achievement in Peru
Lower secondary (grades 7–9) Motivation and curiosity
Links to claims
Limits (1)
| Claim | Basis |
|---|---|
| C13 | School-randomised trial in 800 Peruvian secondary schools (working paper, preprint flag): one 90-minute teacher-led paper session raised maths by about 0.05 SD overall, about 0.13 SD in the lower-scoring regional sample and about zero in Lima; regional gains persisted at 14 months. Not an online lesson and no split by individual prior achievement. Full text read. |
Review state: first-pass draft, pending human review.
Source note
Syntes: Outes-León, Sánchez & Vakis (2020) — a 90-minute classroom mindset session in Peru lifted maths scores outside Lima, but not in Lima
Källa: Outes-León, I., Sánchez, A. & Vakis, R. (2020). The Power of Believing You Can Get Smarter: The Impact of a Growth-Mindset Intervention on Academic Achievement in Peru. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 9141. https://doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-9141
Verified content
- [full text] 800 public schools sampled in three regions, split into a metropolitan and a regional sample; half the schools in each randomly assigned to the session; about 60% of assigned schools delivered at least one session.
- [full text] About 2 months after: maths test scores up 5% of a standard deviation (intention to treat); reading comprehension similar but not significant. The maths gain came from the regional sample (about 13% SD), with virtually zero effect in the metropolitan sample, where schools and classes were larger and scores higher.
- [full text] About 14 months after, in the regional sample: about 10%, 12% and 10% SD higher in maths, reading comprehension, and history, economics and geography. Cost about $0.20 per pupil.
- [full text] No differential effects by gender or native tongue at standard significance levels.
Limits
- [full text] No school assessment data before 2015, so baseline balance was checked only on 2014 census school characteristics (authors' footnote).
- [assessment] Working paper (: preprint flag). Paper-based, teacher-led session, not an online lesson. The paper does not split results by individual prior achievement; the authors only suggest that lower achievement in the regional sample may explain the difference. Already searched by the nightly run on 2026-10-22 and judged a positive result, not an attack; added here so it has a library page.
Why it is in the library
The largest trial of a short mindset session in a middle-income country, and one of the few to look at where it works: gains in lower-scoring regional schools, none in the capital.
Added 2026-10-25 by the project (weekly source sweep, kind: old; read: full text). [abstract] = from the published abstract; [full text] = read in the full text; [assessment] = the project's own assessment.
Metadata as recorded
- ID
- MOT-013
- Tier
- RCT (working paper)
- Titel
- The Power of Believing You Can Get Smarter: The Impact of a Growth-Mindset Intervention on Academic Achievement in Peru
- Författare
- Outes-León, I., Sánchez, A. & Vakis, R.
- År
- 2020 (World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 9141) (World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 9141)
- Källa/DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-9141
- URL
- https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/212351580740956027/pdf/The-Power-of-Believing-You-Can-Get-Smarter-The-Impact-of-a-Growth-Mindset-Intervention-on-Academic-Achievement-in-Peru.pdf (open access)
- Typ
- school-randomised trial, 800 public secondary schools in three Peruvian regions (metropolitan and regional samples), one 90-minute teacher-led paper-based session ("¡Expande tu Mente!") for grades 7 and 8; outcomes from national census evaluations about 2 and 14 months later. Working paper, not peer reviewed (the preprint rule).
- Åldersgrupp
- grundskola-hog
- Teman
- motivation-och-nyfikenhet
- Hämtad
- 2026-10-25
- Paywall
- open access
- Tillagd
- source sweep 2026-10-25 (kind: old); links pending human review
The original files (PDF or abstract) are kept in the project archive and are not published here.