BARBARA SCHNEIDER

Barbara Schneider is the John A. Hannah Chair and Distinguished Professor in the College of Education and Department of Sociology at Michigan State University. She serves as the principal investigator of the College Ambition Program (CAP), a study testing a model to promote a STEM college-going culture in high schools, encouraging adolescents to pursue STEM majors and careers.

Previously, she worked for 18 years at the University of Chicago, holding positions as a Professor in Sociology and Human Development and as a senior researcher at NORC. She remains a senior fellow at NORC, where she leads the Center on Advancing Research in Communication in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

Dr. Schneider’s research applies a sociological lens to examine how societal conditions and interpersonal interactions shape norms and values that enhance human and social capital. Her work focuses on the influence of schools and families on adolescents' academic and social well-being as they transition into adulthood.

Publications and Research

• The effects of growth mindset on college persistence and completion
• Estimating the impact of growth mindset on high school mathematics performance and course-taking
• A national experiment revealing where a growth mindset improves achievement
• Impact of a growth mindset intervention on key predictors of academic success in a nationally representative sample
• Pairing light-touch learning mindset interventions with a long-term campus initiative
• Reducing inequality in academic success for incoming college students: A randomized trial of growth mindset and belonging interventions
• Engagement, persistence, and gender in computer science: Results of a smartphone ESM study
• Are expectations alone enough? Estimating the effect of a mandatory college-prep curriculum in Michigan
• Student Experience Research Network’s portfolio of research on mindsets and the learning environment
• Findings from the pilot for the National Study of Learning Mindsets
• Exploring Student Experience in Mathematics Learning
• How do Learning Environments Shape Student Mindsets?

Expertise

• Assessment, measurement, and evaluation
• Family, community, and schools
• Administration and leadership (K-12 schools)
• Educational policy

Network Projects

• National Mindset Study
• College Transition Collaborative

Professor Schneider has published 15 books and over 100 articles and reports on family, the social context of schooling, and the sociology of knowledge. She served as the editor of Sociology of Education and earned her Ph.D. from Northwestern University.