Q: Our daughter's teacher uses "growth mindset theory" and encourages kids to "grow their brains." She praises effort more than grades and says that failure can be good. This is so weird for third grade! Is there anything to it?

A: Stanford University psychologist Carol S. Dweck pioneered "growth mindset" research. It draws on neuroscience showing that a learner's brain can improve with dedicated effort.

"A growth mindset is the understanding that personal qualities and abilities can change. It leads people to take on challenges, persevere in the face of setbacks, and become more effective learners," writes Eduardo Briceno, co-founder with Dweck of education program Mindset Works.

Dweck's research shows that how a student thinks about herself as a learner has a significant impact on learning; there's a strong connection between students' motivation to learn a new skill and how they think about their intelligence.

Kids who think their intelligence is "fixed" -- that they are stuck at a certain level of smarts -- tend to do less well than those who think that they can do anything they set their minds to. Equally powerful is this finding: Students who think that their intelligence or skill level can be improved by effort and experimentation seek more challenges, learn from mistakes and don't give up in the face of failure.

Dweck delivers a message young learners need to hear. It's why many teachers embrace it and encourage kids to realize that the more they exercise their brains, the stronger they become.

Dweck's findings on the role of praise are especially helpful. She wants teachers and parents to change the way they praise. Rather than use general praise ("You can do it because you're smart!"), she says it's more effective to praise specific efforts that lead to improvements such as focus, persistence and work habits ("You're doing a good job organizing your science fair experiment. It will give you plenty of time to practice presenting."). This takes the spotlight off fixed ability and puts it on the process of learning.

People new to growth mindset "sometimes conclude that we should simply praise children for working hard," writes Briceno, "but this is a nascent level of understanding."

He continues: "Students often haven't learned that working hard involves thinking hard, which involves reflecting on and changing our strategies so we become more and more effective learners over time, and we need to guide them to come to understand this."

A student who is trying very hard but isn't making progress should be coached to try different approaches; this is where the praise is most effective.

The growth mindset framework is a useful tool to get kids thinking about how to grow their capacity to learn and shift their thinking about success and failure.

For example, Dweck encourages parents to use the power of "yet." If Jayden is having trouble with fractions, explain that she isn't good yet. Emphasize that with effort, she will master them.

When it comes to failure, Dweck says to make sure kids know it's OK to fail. Taking risks and learning from failure lead to invention and creativity.

To learn more, check out Brainology, a program that helps teachers and parents foster growth mindsets at mindsetworks.com.

(Do you have a question about your child's education? Email it to Leanna@aplusadvice.com. Leanna Landsmann is an education writer who began her career as a classroom teacher. She has served on education commissions, visited classrooms in 49 states to observe best practices, and founded Principal for a Day in New York City.)

Q: At a gathering over the holidays, I was amazed at how little history my Generation Z family members knew. One cousin, a college freshman, was clueless about the Cold War; another, a high school senior, was fuzzy about the Civil Rights movement. At age 43, I'm no old fogey complaining about "the younger generation," but I do wonder what my own kids are learning in school. Doesn't the Common Core teach history?

A: Don't blame the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). They were only adopted in most states within the last couple of years, so the curriculum you're referring to would not have had been based on the CCSS.

In 2009, when the National Governors Association (NGA), the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and a group of national business leaders decided to create a set of skills and knowledge that students graduating high school should have in order to be college- and career-ready, they put their focus solely on standards for mathematics and English language arts (ELA).

Selected readings in the ELA standards support history. For example, most high school students read Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty or give me death!" speech to the Second Virginia Convention; George Washington's Farewell Address; Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address; Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms" State of the Union Address; and Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter From Birmingham Jail.

While there are no national standards for history, most states have their own. Many high schools use Advanced Placement curricula as a starting point for what should be covered in U.S. history, U.S. government and world history.

Common Core standards for science, the arts and world languages are being crafted by organizations independent of CCSSO and NGA. (To read the standards in math and ELA, go to commoncore.org.)

But you do raise a good question: What should all Americans know? Or, as Lisa Hansel of the Core Knowledge Blog puts it, "What should all of our children have the opportunity to learn?"

In 1987, University of Virginia professor E.D. Hirsch launched a national debate with his best-seller, "Cultural Literacy" (Vintage), with its 5,000 facts and cultural references. Parents and educators embraced his subsequent series, spelling out what children should learn at each grade level.

Hirsch's critics argued that one professor shouldn't decide what all kids should learn to have a common vocabulary and shared frame of reference in an increasingly diverse country.

To that end, Eric Liu has launched "What Every American Should Know," a project of the educational nonprofit Aspen Institute's Citizenship and American Identity Program.

"Hirsch's list was attacked, celebrated and much discussed," Liu writes on the project's website. "Today, amidst giant demographic and social shifts, the United States needs such common knowledge more than ever. But a 21st-century sense of cultural literacy has to be radically more diverse and inclusive. And it needs to come not from one person, but from all of us."

Inspired by Hirsch's work, Liu turned to crowdsourcing for the project, giving all Americans an opportunity to help cultivate, according to Hansel, "a shared body of knowledge that honors our diversity while forming a common bond."

What do you think Americans should know to be civically and culturally literate? Enter your top 10 at whateveryamericanshouldknow.org.

(Do you have a question about your child's education? Email it to Leanna@aplusadvice.com. Leanna Landsmann is an education writer who began her career as a classroom teacher. She has served on education commissions, visited classrooms in 49 states to observe best practices, and founded Principal for a Day in New York City.)

Q: Last year, all our parent group did was gripe about tests, but nobody brings it up now. Our PTA president says that new laws have stopped mandatory testing. Aren't some tests necessary? How else will we know how our kids are doing?

A: While several trends have shifted the testing picture, your PTA president gets an "incomplete" on the topic. Annual tests are still required.

Here's what's changed. One: States and districts, responding to concerns from teachers and parents about over-testing, cut back on redundant exams. (One Florida district had given students 183 tests between kindergarten and seventh grade; only 17 were federally required.) Cutting back decreased the ongoing test prep that eats into instructional time.

Two: Some "opt-out" movements were fueled in part by efforts to tie teacher evaluations to test scores. Now that most states have uncoupled test scores and teacher accountability, there's less resistance to testing.

Three: Parents realize that the maxim "what gets tested, gets taught" shortchanges kids. Subjects such as social studies and the arts -- and hard-to-test social-emotional skills such as resilience, responsibility and self-regulation -- get less instructional time. Parents and teachers want to change that.

Four: There are big changes at the federal level. On Dec. 10, President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), replacing No Child Left Behind. ESSA passed with strong bipartisan support in both houses of Congress. It continues to mandate annual math and reading testing requirements for grades 3 though 8, and requires that schools annually report test scores and keep track of demographics including race, economic status and disabilities.

But states can now set their own goals and timelines on accountabliliy, subject to approval by the federal Deparment of Education. For example, states can decide how to weigh tests, how to evaluate teachers and how to sanction schools where students don't graduate on time or whose students score in the lowest 5 percent.

"This bipartisan agreement came about because policymakers were wise enough not to throw the testing 'baby' out with the bathwater," says Bill Jackson, CEO and founder of GreatSchools.org. "Parents don't want their kids to undergo unnecessary tests or endless hours of prep, but they do want to know how their children are doing and how well their schools are performing."

Nationally normed annual tests can provide that information, says Jackson; however, "but the results aren't easy for parents to interpret."

GreatSchools hopes to change that. Working with major test providers, the organization just launched the GreatKids State Test Guide for Parents: a free online tool that's organized by grade and subject.

"This tool will help parents understand the scores and use them to support their kids' learning," says Jackson. "The guide fills a critical need: specific, actionable information for parents, customized to the grade level of their children and described relative to the sections of the tests."

To learn more, and to use the guide, visit StateTestGuide.org.

(Do you have a question about your child's education? Email it to Leanna@aplusadvice.com. Leanna Landsmann is an education writer who began her career as a classroom teacher. She has served on education commissions, visited classrooms in 49 states to observe best practices, and founded Principal for a Day in New York City.)