ABSTRACT
The approach in education and social psychology is to investigate contextual factors of interest using longitudinal or experimental research designs. The importance of the educational context is highlighted by research on teacher's expectations of students and student's internalization of those expectations. In the education domain, investigations have focused on identifying precisely what it is that teachers do as function of their expectancy that could explain the gains in student's performance. Numerous studies have demonstrated that students of varied ages are able to shift from an entity to incremental theory of intelligence, and the effect of doing so on academic achievement has been measured. The type of theory teachers and students hold about ability has a dramatic impact on behavior the strategies used by teachers in the classroom and students motivation, effort, and achievement. The theme of this chapter is that school identification is not just a predictor of school-based behaviors but, is a critical component to transforming behavior.
