In a Chronicle of Higher Education article David Gooblar, a pedagogy columnist and professor of English and gender studies at the University of Iowa, wrote of recent research:

“Even more strikingly, the achievement gap between white students and those in underrepresented minority groups (blacks, Latinx, and Native Americans) was nearly twice as wide in courses taught by an instructor with a fixed mind-set. No other characteristic — the instructor’s race, gender, age, tenure status, teaching experience — explained those students’ underperformance. For instance, if all other factors were the same, black students fared no better in courses taught by a black instructor. Having a nonwhite instructor didn’t shrink the gap, but having an instructor with a growth mind-set did.

“The single characteristic that predicted how well underrepresented students would do, in relation to white students, was what their instructors believed about human intelligence and learning.

“Note that Canning and her colleagues did not check to see whether instructors used lectures, active-learning strategies, or some combination. What matters more than the particular teaching techniques you use, I suspect, is the spirit in which you use them. A lecture delivered to students you see as fixed quantities — you think some are smart enough to handle the material while others aren’t and never will be — is going to take a certain shape. A lecture designed with the understanding that students can improve with the right combination of practice and feedback will probably look a lot different.”

These are dramatic claims, but in need of some caveats when compared with Jo Boaler’s work summarized in her book Limitless Mind.

First, classroom equity only covers student learning and performance outcomes. It doesn’t address deeper issues such as BIPOC students concerns about classroom safety, the value of a representative faculty, and related concerns with anti-racism work and addressing anti-Blackness and structural racism in higher educational institutions. These areas cause stress for BIPOC students that can also impact learning and student retention.

Boaler argues that “relational equity” which she defines as respectful classroom interactions based on listening and respect and that honor diversity is as important as equity in academic performance. She adds that a growth mindset reduces racial stereotypes based on perceptions of academic ability and helps students’ interactions with each other. It has also been shown to lower aggression as there is no longer competition for a fixed good. Valuing diversity means there is less need to be right at other’s expense and students can collaborate and learn from each other. These aspects are also important because collaborative learning and group work boosts learning. Students explaining something to other students is especially effective.

Second, Goolbar’s suspicion that using a growth mindset alone regardless of teaching style will address equity isn’t supported by Boaler. She argues that research shows the growth mindset is enhanced across populations by multi-module teaching approaches that engage more than one part of the brain.