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

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• Students will persist more when they perceive that they are treated fairly and with respect,
and adults show they care about them.
• Students will persist more when teachers, administrators, and others in the school
environment have high expectations for students’ success and hold students to high
standards. These can be conveyed explicitly or implicitly. When remedial support is
necessary, it is provided in ways that do not feel punitive or interfere with opportunities to
engage in other interest-driven activities.
• Evaluation of student performance should be carefully designed not to undermine
perceptions of competence and future expectations. It should be based on clearly defined
criteria, provide specific and useful feedback, and be varied to give students opportunities to
demonstrate competence in different ways.
• Extrinsic rewards and punishments that undermine intrinsic motivation should be avoided.
• Authoritarian discipline policies that limit students’ options and opportunities for selfexpression
undermine intrinsic motivation and persistence.
Some of the alternative school models that we discuss in Chapter 4 have additional cultural
components to promote grit, tenacity, and perseverance. For example, some schools are using
models that provide explicit opportunities for practice, feedback and/or reflection on mindsets
and skills that support perseverance. Other models provide extensive real-world projects that
require planning and persistence to complete, and provide opportunities for iteration and
continued improvement.
Tangible resources. Students are also more likely to persevere in learning environments that
provide the tangible resources—materials, human, and time—necessary to overcome challenges
and accomplish their goals. Depending on the type of goals, materials can include access to
particular programs, technology, rigorous curriculum, equipment or materials to complete
projects, course tuition, or physical facilities where students can do their work. Human resources
can include mentoring, tutoring, peer guidance, teachers with particular training, or special
services. Time can also be a precious resource—in optimal challenge, students need to have
adequate time to grapple with their difficulties, reflect, get feedback, iterate, and try new
approaches.
Particularly in high-poverty urban areas, many of these tangible resources can be lacking.
Teachers may not have adequate materials or professional development, or they may have to
handle so many students that they simply do not have time to provide support to individual
students. As we will discuss later, there are important potential new roles for technology in
filling some of these gaps and implications for policy and resource needs.
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