Messages that promote
       the idea that intelligence
          is a skill that can be
           improved through
           practice and effort
        significantly increased
         student achievement
                 in Peru.




Improving Student
Outcomes for Only
Twenty Cents

We all know that if a 13-year-old has his mind set on
something, it is quite difficult to try to change it. This
is exactly the type of challenge that the Ministry of        The Project
Education in Peru is approaching with students in
public schools and high schools, targeting those from
                                                              Like many other countries, Peru is worried about
low-income households in particular.
                                                              standardized test outcomes and what they mean for
Teenagers often have pre-conceived ideas about their          students, especially for the increasing gap between
own intelligence, which influences how they react to          students from high- and low-income households. The
academic challenges. If a student thinks he is not smart      standard approach to improving student achievement
enough, he believes there is little he can do to improve.     involves investing more in teacher training and learning
But there’s good news: recent studies have shown that         materials. Researchers from the World Bank, the
intelligence is not immutable and unalterable. On the         University of Oxford, and the Group for Analysis
contrary – with practice, we can expand our intellectual      for Development (GRADE) in Peru decided to take a
capabilities over time.                                       different approach. They developed a project called
                                                             “Expand Your Mind” which is focused in developing
 The Ministry of Education in Peru is using these findings    motivation and perseverance.
 to improve outcomes for students in public high schools,
 especially those from low-income households. The            Through this growth mindset intervention, students
 handout students in Peru received explains it simply:       and teachers in 800 selected public schools and high
“Everyone knows that when you lift weights your muscles      schools were asked to read an essay titled “Did You
 grow stronger. Scientists have discovered the brain         Know You Can Grow Your Intelligence?” and to do a series
 works in the same way; when you face big challenges         of activities to demonstrate that they understood the
 your brain also grows.”                                     content of that essay.
INTERVENTION
•	 50,000 seventh and eighth grade students.
•	 A 90-minute session where students and teachers discuss
   a specialized article on how brains can grow.
•	Schools in three regions in Peru (Ancash, Junín, and Lima).




EVALUATION
•	 Experimental impact evaluation.
•	800 public schools were randomly assigned to treatment
  and control groups.
•	 Results were measured by comparing the means of these two groups.




RESULTS
•	 Intent to treat (ITT) results indicate an overall effect of a 0.05 standard deviation
   increase in math test scores among eighth graders, and no effect in language scores.
•	 These effects hide heterogenous effects, with no effects found in Lima, while in the
   other two regions the effects in math and language were both significant, increasing
   math and language test scores by 0.14 and 0.09 standard deviations, respectively.
•	 Local average treatment effects (LATE) results account for lower than expected take up
   due to challenges during implementation suggest adjusted effects as high as 0.35 and
   0.23 standard deviation increase in math and language test scores, centered in the
   two non-Lima regions.
•	 The largest results are equivalent of up to four months of schooling.
•	 Cost-effective at US$0.20 per student.
The Results
The intervention reached more than 50,000 students in only a few months
and was implemented at a cost of only twenty cents per student.
An impact evaluation of the project showed up to an ITT effect of 0.14 standard
deviation increase in math test scores (eighth grade). LATE results to adjust
for lower than expected take up challenges during implementation suggest
an effect up to 0.35 standard deviation increase in math test scores and up
to 0.23 standard deviations in language, equivalent to up to four months of
schooling, with the effects focused in two of the regions where the project was
implemented. Significantly, the results persisted over time – preliminary results
show continued improvement in students 14 months later, suggesting that the
intervention changed mindsets for the long term. These latter results were
found in eight grade students who received the intervention in seventh grade.




Policy Implications
The intervention demonstrates the power of a low-cost, high-impact
intervention for improving student outcomes dramatically and over time.
The Ministry of Education in Peru is currently scaling up the intervention
and is implementing new trials to test the efficacy of additional teacher
tools and video modalities. Given its promising results, eMBeD is also
replicating this work in other countries, including Indonesia and South
Africa, to test its scalability and reliability.




        About eMBeD
        The Mind, Behavior, and Development Unit (eMBeD), the World Bank’s behavioral
        science team in the Poverty and Equity Global Practice, works closely with project
        teams, governments, and other partners to diagnose, design, and evaluate behaviorally
        informed interventions. By collaborating with a worldwide network of scientists and
        practitioners, the eMBeD team provides answers to important economic and social
        questions, and contributes to the global effort to eliminate poverty and enhance equity.
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Last Update: October 02, 2018