Validating Scales for Measuring Self-Efficacy, Growth Mindset, and Goal Setting

Self-efficacy beliefs and mindset influence student success, impacting how a learner experiences and responds to learning situations and setbacks. Accordingly, mindset interventions, are successful at increasing student performance with particular efficacy with historically underserved students such as those attending HBCUs. This paper studies a classroom-based mindset intervention that was implemented with the goal of increasing learning and achievement through improving the students’ cognitive disposition. The intervention, implemented at a mid-Atlantic minority serving institution of higher education, involved the creation of a custom-designed three-tool self-assessment developed to engender students’ critical reflection. The scales in question measured self-efficacy, growth mindset, and mastery goal orientation. This paper presents the results of reliability testing via Cronbach’s alpha and inter-item covariance. According to the findings, all three tools showed strong (good to excellent) reliability with acceptable positive covariance indicating that they are capable of serving as appropriate instruments for further adoption, usage, and analysis. It is the goal that this paper contributes to the body of literature on mindset interventions encouraging more individuals working with traditionally underserved learners to consider exploring efforts to increase students’ positive mindsets.