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

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− Challenge is inevitable for success.
− This work is in line with my interests, values, or goals.
− I belong in this academic community.
2. Effortful control. Students are constantly faced with tasks that are important for long-term
goals but that in the short-term may not feel desirable or intrinsically motivating. Successful
students, by themselves or with the support of others, marshal willpower and regulate their
attention in the face of distractions.
3. Strategies and tactics. Students are also more likely to persevere when they can draw on
specific strategies and tactics to deal with challenges and setbacks. They need actionable
skills for taking responsibility and initiative, and for being productive under conditions of
uncertainty—for example, defining tasks, planning, monitoring, and dealing with specific
obstacles.
The culture of the learning environment can promote these psychological resources, most
commonly within the learning environment, but also potentially as transferable skills to take
beyond the learning environment. We identified several productive cultural practices. While not
every one of these is critical in all learning environments, educators may be deliberate in
providing support that is appropriate for the given goals at hand, within their institutional and
other practical constraints.
• Students should be treated fairly and with respect. Adults should show they care about
students. Educators should have high expectations that all students will be capable of
achieving their goals, with support.
• A “growth mindset” should be foundational to the classroom culture. Praise should always be
directed at effort and never at ability. Practitioners should tell students to expect the goals to
be challenging and require effort.
• Failure must be framed as an act of learning, and students should be provided opportunities
to iterate on and improve their work or approach based on constructive feedback.
• Evaluations of performance should be designed to support perceptions of competence and
future expectations of success. It should be frequent so that students receive timely and
actionable feedback about their performance and growth with respect to academic
achievement, mindsets, effortful control, and use of strategies and tactics.
• To the extent possible, the learning environment (e.g., teacher, technology) should be
responsive and adaptive to students’ performances and learning needs, offering personalized
experiences that provide optimal challenge.
• Appropriate learning strategies that foster planning, reflection, and tactics for dealing with
challenges should be discussed and supported. For example, students can be taught or
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