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

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5. Conclusions and Recommendations
This report has investigated practice and research around grit, tenacity, and perseverance across
educational communities. The goal was to distill the critical themes, questions, conclusions, and
recommendations around theory, measurement, and the design of learning environments, with an
eye toward identifying potential new roles for technology. In the sections below, we discuss
specific conclusions and recommendations tailored to the needs and responsibilities of educators,
administrators, policymakers, technology designers, parents, and researchers.
Need to Prioritize Grit, Tenacity, and Perseverance
Across the board in research, practice, policy, industry, and popular culture, there is an emerging
and convergent recognition that noncognitive factors—and particularly grit, tenacity, and
perseverance—should play an essential role in evolving educational priorities. American
children in the 21st century need support as they navigate a variety of challenges unprecedented
in history. Students in high-poverty areas face particular challenges of stress, limited social
support, lack of critical resources, and psychological disempowerment and disenfranchisement.
However, regardless of socioeconomic conditions, all students can encounter difficult challenges
and setbacks throughout their schooling as they learn conceptually complex material, deal with
distractions, persist through academic assignments that are important but not necessarily
intrinsically interesting, manage competing demands, and prepare themselves for the complex
and rapidly changing 21st-century workplace. The test score accountability movement and
conventional educational approaches have tended to focus on intellectual aspects of success,
such as content knowledge. However, this is not sufficient. If students are to achieve their full
potential, they must have opportunities to engage and develop a much richer set of skills. Indeed,
a growing body of research suggests that noncognitive factors can have just as strong an
influence on academic performance and professional attainment as intellectual factors.
This is an exciting time of change and progress with a strong need for growing involvement by
all educational stakeholders. New and emerging trends in research, policy, programs, and
technology are providing unprecedented opportunities. At the same time, a common theme in the
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