Abstract. The majority of educational research on the associations between growth constructs and academic outcomes has adopted a somewhat piecemeal approach, focusing on either growth mindset (implicit beliefs about intelligence) or growth goals. We explore an integrative approach to analyzing the impact of well-established and emerging growth constructs (viz. growth mindset, self-based growth goals, task-based growth goals) on academic outcomes in mathematics. Our participants were secondary school students (n = 4,411) in grades 7–9 from 19 schools in Australia. We used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the measurement and substantive hypotheses in our study. We found that growth mindset, self-based growth goals, and task-based growth goals were well represented by an underlying growth orientation factor. Additionally, after controlling for five student background factors (e.g., sex, socioeconomic status [SES]), students’ growth orientation positively predicted mathematics engagement and achievement. These results contribute to the growing literature on educational growth constructs and academic success.

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Does adaptive quizzing work in real classrooms? Limited previous research has yielded mixed results (e.g., Griff & Matter, 2013;Phelan & Phelan, 2011). Adaptive quizzing might provide an effective form of retrieval practice, but crucial questions exist about how students use it in the real world. In fact, adaptive quizzing could be harmful. In study 1, we show that students in sections of introductory psychology who are assigned 1 adaptive quizzing product (LearningCurve) learn the same amount as students who are not assigned adaptive quizzing. In study 2, we find that adaptive quizzing provided a wide range of both number of quiz questions completed and quiz question difficulty in a large introductory psychology class. Students who completed the assigned work and answered fewer, and more difficult, adaptive questions showed greater learning in the class, controlling for pretest psychology knowledge. We found no evidence that adaptive quizzing harmed students by leading to overconfidence. Students positively rated the system. However, few students used the system for deliberate retrieval practice, and adaptive quiz use was only modestly associated with learning and those gains were attenuated when pretest and SAT/ACT scores were controlled. Similar to many other educational tools, it is crucial to understand instructors' goals for adaptive quizzing and how students use adaptive quizzing to find ways to maximize effective use.

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