Promoting Grit, Tenacity, and Perseverance - U.S. Department of ...

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Limitations include short school periods with broad coverage of standards, lack of teacher
training, lack of time for teachers to plan and collaborate, and lack of parental support.
Recommendation 4: Administrators, federal agencies, and foundations should provide
structural supports that will enable educators to enact best practices and implementation of
productive models. Administrators and educators need professional development, curriculum
materials, and technological supports. Other potentially high-leverage strategies may be
restructuring school days to have longer periods and increasing school staffing so that teachers
can give individual students more thoughtful feedback and attention. Outreach and inclusion of
parents and other community members also can provide important bridges to promote
coherence among schools and local communities.
We also identified a need to raise awareness of the importance of these competencies across
communities. While “grit” is a “hot” topic in many circles, some of these ideas are still
unavailable to the majority of individuals in educational communities around the country. To
build the momentum to overcome many of the barriers to implementation, a first priority must be
awareness-raising so that teachers, administrators, parents, policymakers, and all others involved
in the educational community see these issues as important and become invested in supporting
change. Stakeholders who understand the importance of these issues and are passionate about
shifting educational priorities, within their own institutions and beyond, need to become
proactive advocates for change. It is important to realize the potential impacts of spreading the
word and outreach to the community—to gain buy-in, tangible help and support for students as
they pursue big goals, financial resources, and political support.
Also, researchers often have extensive knowledge about what works and does not work in
schools, and it is the research community’s responsibility to translate these findings so that the
public can understand them, recognize their importance, and marshal the resources for change.
Anderman (2011) presents 10 strategies for how researchers can engage with the broader
community:
(1) Present research to practitioners via workshops. (2) Provide assistance to a local
superintendent. (3) Write an applied article for practitioner-oriented journal. (4) Inform
the public relations office at your institution about your area of expertise. (5) Work
collaboratively with teacher educators. (6) Advocate for principles of educational
psychology in teacher-intern programs. (7) Inform legislators of your research. (8) Talk
about your research conversationally with others—in person and via social media. (9)
Work with APA, AERA, and other organizations to influence accreditation standards
(NCATA, TEAC), certification standards, and government policy. (10) Present research
findings at practitioner-oriented conferences (p. 188).
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