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

Draft
Overview of the Measurable Constructs
In Chapter 2, we defined grit for the purpose of this report
as: “Perseverance to accomplish long-term or higher-order
goals in the face of challenges and setbacks, engaging the
student’s psychological resources, such as their academic
mindsets, effortful control, and strategies and tactics.”
Depending on the purposes, measurement of grit may
target one or more of these factors.
At the center of the model, measurement may target
whether and/or how an individual perseveres toward a
goal in the face of challenges and setbacks. An important
distinction for measurement purposes is whether
perseverance is conceptualized as a disposition or set of
processes. If conceptualized as a disposition, the
measurement may target perseverance as a general or
enduring tendency to persevere (see callout box for more
detail on how we conceptualize “disposition”). For
example, Duckworth et al. (2007) ask individuals to report
Does Measuring “Dispositions” Imply
They Are Unchangeable Traits?
Some people equate “dispositions” with
traits that people are born with and
cannot change. In this brief, and
particularly in this section on
measurement, we use the term
“disposition” to mean enduring
tendencies, independent of any claims
about their origin or malleability. We
consider dispositions to be enduring
tendencies that can be the result of any
number of factors in the environment or
the individual’s innate temperament. We
also make no general claims here in
either direction about whether
dispositions are changeable, malleable,
or teachable—malleability will be highly
dependent on what the disposition is
and the nature of the opportunities that
individuals encounter.
about their enduring dispositional tendencies around pursuing long-term goals and then examine
relationships among self-reported perseverance, academic performance, and goal attainment.
These types of measures can be used for research purposes to understand how these tendencies
relate to performance or attainment, as well as to provide important information to students,
teachers, and parents about students’ tendencies and preferences. If perseverance is
conceptualized as a set of processes, its measurement may focus on the sequence of behaviors,
emotions, physiological reactions, and/or thoughts that unfold over time during the process of
learning. For example, researchers such as Shute and Ventura (in press), Feng, Heffernan, and
Koedinger (2009), and Arroyo and Woolf (2005) focus on “micro-level” moment-by-moment
behaviors in the process of solving problems. These types of measures can be used in classrooms
or within digital learning environments to provide feedback to teachers and students during
learning. While dispositional and process approaches each tap into perseverance, their
underlying constructs are conceptually distinct, have different underlying assumptions, and
require different methodologies (e.g., self-report versus log file analysis). An important area for
future research is understanding connections between enduring dispositions and “microlevel”
process factors.
Measurement may also target—and often does—aspects of the classroom climate and/or the
psychological resources that contribute to and interact with perseverance: academic mindsets,
effortful control, and strategies and tactics. Yet, these broad categories just scratch the surface.
Underlying each is a constellation of multiple, distinct skills and attributes, which can be
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