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

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include those that help students clarify their goals and anticipate in advance how to deal with
likely obstacles, develop general study skills, build a resource-rich social network, or develop
content-specific metacognitive skills to monitor progress. Some programs build these types
of skills as protective positive assets that support resilience in the face of adversity.
3. Alternative school models and school-level reform approaches. We reviewed three types
of approaches. The “character education” models include explicit articulation of learning
goals for targeted competencies, clear and regular assessment and feedback of student
progress, intensive teacher professional development, and discourse about these
competencies throughout the school culture. In the “project-based learning and design
thinking” models, students develop competencies through engagement in long-term,
challenging, and/or real-world problems that require planning, monitoring, feedback, and
iteration. Mindsets are addressed inherently in processes of feedback and iteration, and
projects are often aligned with students’ interests and passions. The third type of approach is
that of organizations providing support for schoolwide improvement, such as teacher
professional development, networks of school communities, and strategies to improve school
organizational structure. There is strong anecdotal evidence of these models’ success, but
further research is needed to determine impacts.
4. Informal learning programs. We reviewed informal learning programs that provide
different kinds of support for persistence. Several provide structured social support networks
for students who are the first in their families to go to college. Such programs provide
academic support, community involvement, and guidance in the processes of college
exploration, application, and initial college adjustment. Other types of programs focus on
activities to spark and support interest and persistence in STEM professions. Many programs
are beginning to teach explicitly about grit, drawing on models similar to those discussed in
the character education models above. In most cases, there is strong anecdotal evidence of
their success, but further research is needed to determine impacts.
5. Digital learning environments, online resources, and tools for teachers. We reviewed
educational technologies aligned with each aspect of the hypothesized model: digital learning
environments that provide optimal challenge through adaptivity; digital tools to help
educators promote a rigorous and supportive classroom climate; resources, information,
materials, tools, or human capital to accomplish difficult goals; motivating learning
environments that trigger interest; teaching about academic mindsets; promoting learning
strategies; and promoting the development of effortful control. Data is available showing
impacts of many of these technologies.
Together, these findings provide a source of optimism that grit, tenacity, and perseverance can be
teachable or transferable. Future work will need to examine how educators can adopt or adapt
these approaches in their own settings.
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