Much talk about equity in education is about bricks and mortar--about having equal facilities and equal resources. Those factors, although extremely important, are relatively easy to quantify. What may be harder to capture are the beliefs that administrators, teachers, and students hold--beliefs that can have a striking impact on students'…

Educators commonly believe that praising students' intelligence builds their confidence and motivation to learn and that students' inherent intelligence is the major cause of their school achievement. The author's research shows that, on the contrary, praising students' intelligence can be problematic. Praise is intricately connected to how…