Profiles in Mentoring: Cameron Hecht on Empowering Educators Through Values-Aligned Interventions

Cameron Hecht, PhD., is a professor of psychology at The University of Rochester School of Arts & Sciences. His research seeks to address the psychological roots of social inequality and improve outcomes by designing interventions that support individual motivation and reshape the environments people navigate, particularly in schools and workplaces. We recently had the honor of speaking with Dr. Hecht about his recent paper on empowering teachers through values-aligned mindset interventions.

Chronicle (C): Was there a personal experience or moment in your academic journey that led you to explore how teacher practices shape student outcomes, particularly for students from disadvantaged backgrounds?

Cameron Hecht (CH): My academic journey started with a deep interest in interventions that target motivational processes to help students perform their best—especially those from historically marginalized backgrounds. I was drawn to approaches that target students’ beliefs, like helping them see that intelligence isn’t fixed or how coursework could help them achieve their goals. These interventions can be incredibly powerful when they change the psychological barriers that hold students back from reaching their potential.

But as research on these interventions accumulated across the field, it became clear that they weren’t equally effective for all students in all settings. The same message that helped one group thrive might fall flat—or even backfire—in another classroom. That became a turning point for me and my colleagues. We realized that if the classroom environment—or the teacher’s own language and practices—contradict the message, it can undermine the whole intervention. For example, one landmark study found that growth mindset interventions improved students’ grades when teachers supported a growth mindset, but had no effect in classrooms where teachers endorsed a fixed mindset.

That insight shifted my focus. I became convinced that to make real, lasting change, we need to do more than support students—we need to support the adults shaping the environments around them.

C: Can you share how you identified the values that mattered most to teachers and why you think connecting to those values proved to be such a powerful motivator for change?

CH: We started by simply listening to teachers. In early interviews, we asked high school teachers to describe a colleague they deeply admired—someone they saw as an exceptional educator and aspired to emulate. Across these stories, a consistent theme emerged: the most respected teachers were those who could spark genuine enthusiasm for learning, even among students who were typically disengaged. These weren’t the teachers who maintained control through threats or coercion—they were the ones whose presence alone could transform the classroom atmosphere. That insight led us to a hypothesis: perhaps this ability to inspire authentic student engagement wasn’t just valued by a few teachers, but was instead a core professional aspiration shared broadly across the field.

To test that, we conducted a nationally representative survey of nearly 1,000 high school math teachers. We asked them to rank characteristics that might earn a teacher the professional respect of their colleagues. The results were striking: 97% ranked inspiring students’ enthusiasm for learning in their top three, and 81% ranked it as the single most important characteristic—far above traits like achieving high test scores or being well-liked. That told us we had found something powerful: a value that the vast majority of teachers in the U.S. see as central to their ideal professional identity.

From there, we designed an intervention that didn’t take a prescriptive or heavy-handed approach. Instead, it showed how growth mindset–supportive practices—especially

consistently communicating a belief in all students’ ability to learn and improve—could help them bring about the kind of student engagement they deeply desired. In other words, the intervention helped them see how this approach could bring them closer to the kind of teacher they already wanted to be.

We believe this values-aligned approach worked because it created intrinsic motivation to change their practices. Rather than appealing to distant outcomes like better test scores, it gave teachers a reason to act now: it helped them see how a subtle shift in communication could earn the attention and engagement of even their most disengaged students, a rare and deeply valued achievement in the teaching profession.

C: Looking ahead, how do you envision this single-session approach being applied more broadly in schools or other institutional settings? What areas are you most excited to explore next in your research?

CH: We designed this as a single-session intervention not just for practicality, but because we wanted to test whether a brief, values-aligned message could meaningfully shift teacher behavior at scale. The fact that we saw measurable impacts on student outcomes—especially in more socioeconomically disadvantaged classrooms—suggests real promise for expanding this approach.

Looking ahead, I’m excited about three directions. First, we’ve expanded this single-session approach into a yearlong teaching fellowship that offers far more infrastructure, support, and opportunities for teacher collaboration. The fellowship still leverages the values-alignment framework, but now includes structured touchpoints, community-building, and ongoing resources to support sustained change. We’re currently testing this expanded model to see whether the added support helps teachers implement growth mindset–supportive practices more deeply and consistently across the school year.

Second, I’m planning to develop a parallel intervention for school principals—one that supports growth mindset–supportive leadership. Just as teachers shape their classroom cultures, principals play a major role in shaping the school culture. I’m excited to explore how values-aligned approaches can motivate principals to create more supportive environments for teachers and students, ultimately amplifying the impact of teacher- and student- focused efforts.

Third, I’m interested in applying this approach beyond the classroom to other institutional settings where the people most directly responsible for day-to-day implementation—like managers or healthcare providers—play a critical role in shaping outcomes but are often overburdened and hard to reach with traditional interventions. For example, can we help managers in the workplace create more inclusive and supportive environments for early-career employees? Can we support healthcare providers in delivering more equitable care? In each case, I believe values alignment can offer a more respectful, effective alternative to deficit-based approaches by helping people see how small changes in practice can help them fulfill their own deeply held professional values.

Ultimately, what excites me most is the idea of building interventions that don’t just work in ideal lab settings, but that honor people’s motivations, respect their constraints, and support real change in the systems they’re already navigating.