Date of Award

Spring 2026

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

Educational Studies

First Advisor

Suha Tamim

Abstract

Middle school mathematics classrooms often emphasize performance and correctness in ways that contribute to negative student beliefs, disengagement, and persistent underachievement, particularly among students enrolled in on-grade-level courses. In this action research study, a targeted math identity development intervention was implemented to examine how instructional practices designed to affirm student thinking influenced eighth-grade students’ math self-efficacy, growth mindset, academic performance, and self-perception as mathematics learners. The study also explored teachers’ perceptions of student identity shifts and the instructional strategies they viewed as most effective in fostering positive math identity.

Guided by Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy, Dweck’s growth mindset theory, and Boaler’s mathematical mindset framework, the eight-week intervention incorporated inquiry-based, identity-affirming instructional strategies emphasizing reasoning, productive struggle, collaboration, and reflection. A convergent mixed-methods design was used with 102 eighth-grade students and two teachers in a suburban New Jersey middle school. Quantitative data included pre- and post-intervention surveys measuring math self-efficacy and growth mindset, as well as diagnostic benchmark data reported using Quantile measures. Qualitative data included student exit tickets, identity-themed artifacts, researcher observational notes, and teacher Professional Learning Community (PLC) transcripts.

Results indicated statistically significant increases in students’ math self-efficacy and growth mindset following the intervention. Qualitative findings revealed shifts in how students described themselves as math learners, with increased references to persistence, strategy use, and willingness to engage with challenging tasks. Teachers reported observable changes in student confidence, participation, and responses to struggle and identified reasoning-focused, collaborative instructional routines as particularly effective. Academic performance data were examined descriptively and provided contextual information alongside identity measures, though no causal relationship was established.

Findings suggest that sustained instructional shifts, rather than isolated mindset messaging, can support meaningful development of students’ math identity. Implications for practice highlight the value of identity-affirming instruction and ongoing professional learning to support equitable mathematics learning experiences.

Rights

© 2026, Sarah A. Foster

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