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Emile comments on [Link] Why the kids don’t know no algebra - Less Wrong Discussion
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I don't think many researchers and educators are actually claiming that things like adopting the growth mindset will "close the gap" - that would be a spin added by journalists, etc.
I get somewhat when I read about "closing the gap" as a goal of education; it gives the impression that a policy that improves all children is strictly worse than a policy that improves only stupid children by the same amount.
Well, equality is one of the human values. I think the journalists are adding this spin because readers want to read it; because it is a political topic. Saying that one child leaves the school system smarter than the other child makes people think "that's unfair". And being unfair, especially towards children, is a bad thing. So yes, a policy that improves all children is strictly worse at creating a feeling of equality.
(Of course there are other values besides equality, which shouldn't be sacrificed, unless you want to say things like: "No one should be able to find a cure for cancer, until we all are able to find a cure for cancer... which realistically means: never." But this is exactly the mindkilling effect of politics: focus on one value and ignore all the others, because our team identifies with this value, and the other value is used in the same way by the other team.)