Philip Trejo, Director, Office of Professional Development, Pueblo ...

Academic

Goals for my segment are:
Get you excited about Academic Resiliency.
Why it is so important for students and
especially our Urban students.
To provide a number of takeaway tools to get
you started in making whatever supports you
have in place for students much for effective.

Academic

Academic Resiliency
Academic resilience refers to a
student's willingness to persevere
at academic tasks even when they
are frustrated. In other words,
academically resilient children do
not give up, no matter what faces
them.

Resilient students are:
“students who succeed in
school despite the presence
of adverse conditions.”
Waxman, H. C., Gray, J.P., & Padron, Y. N. (2003). Review of
Research on Educational Resilience (p.1). CA: Center for Research
on Education, Diversity & Excellence.

An Example of Differences in
Academic Resilience
Let's say that 10-year-olds Roger and Tory have
nearly identical math skill sets and intellectual
aptitude. Roger, however, has high academic
resilience while Tory has low academic
resilience. When their teacher introduces a
challenging new type of math problem, they
probably both experience frustration and make
similar errors. Due to his personality, though,
Roger is much more likely than Tory to fight to
master the new math skill.

ANDREW J. MARTIN AND HERBERT W.
MARSH 4-C model
confidence (self-efficacy)
control
composure (low anxiety)
commitment (persistence)

Academic Resilience
Academic Resiliency subsequently predicts three
educational and psychological “outcomes”:
Enjoyment of school
Class participation
And
General self-esteem

Learning Objective 2
Why it is so important for
students and especially
our Urban students.

• a nationwide study shows, the average high
school graduation rate in the nation’s 50
largest cities was 53 percent, compared with
71 percent in the suburbs.
• In Cleveland, only 38 percent of high school
freshmen graduated within four years.
• New York Times, Apr 22, 2009

Every school day, more than 7,200 students fall through
the cracks of America's public high schools. Three out of
every 10 members of this year’s graduating class, 1.3
million students in all, will fail to graduate with a diploma.
The effects of this graduation crisis fall disproportionately
on the nation’s most vulnerable youths and communities.
A majority of non-graduates are members of historically
disadvantaged minorities and other educationally
underserved groups. They are more likely to attend
school in large, urban districts. And they come
disproportionately from communities challenged by
severe poverty and economic hardship.
Education Week Vol. 29, Issue 34, Pages 22-23, 30

Last year, Hispanic and African American high
school graduates met ACT’s College Readiness
Benchmarks in English, reading, mathematics,
and science at substantially lower rates than did
Asian and White graduates.
For example, the rate of White graduates who were
college ready in English (77%) was twice that of
their African American peers (35%). Hispanics were
slightly lower.

On average, African-American and Latino high
school seniors perform math and read at the
same level as 13-year-old white students.
The Education Trust says African-American and
Latino students have made little to no progress
in 12th-grade reading scores since 1994,
continuing to lag behind white students. Math
achievement has also remained flat, with the
gap between white students and those of color
widening.
Huffington Post, March 23, 2013

• Black, Latino Students Perform at Levels of 30
Years Ago
• National Center for Education Statistics in
2009 and 2011 showed that black and
Hispanic students trailed their white peers by
an average of more than 20 test-score points
on the NAEP math and reading assessments at
4th and 8th grades, a difference of about two
grade levels.

• Only about half of Colorado’s high school
students are proficient or above in writing and
less than half of middle school and high school
students are proficient or above in math. And,
one of every four Colorado high school students
fails to graduate in four years. These outcomes
are much worse for economically disadvantaged
and minority students who, on average, test less
proficient across grade levels and subjects and
have even lower graduation rates.

Boulder Valley School District on its
achievement gap.
• Reading: 70 percent of American Indian, 86 percent of Asian-
American, 68 percent of African-American and 88 percent of white
students scored partially proficient or better on the state
standardized test. Latinos? 42 percent.
• Writing, partially proficient or better: American Indian, 52 percent;
Asian-American, 77 percent; African-American, 51 percent; white,
76 percent. Latinos? 31 percent.
• Math, partially proficient or better: American Indian, 54 percent;
Asian-American, 80 percent; African-American, 47 percent; white,
75 percent. Latinos? 33 percent.
• Science, ditto: American Indian, 41 percent; Asian-American, 71
percent; African-American, 39 percent; white, 72 percent. And
Latinos? 24 percent.
Denver Post, 2009

• In Colorado, whites get college degrees at
three times the rate Latinos do and twice the
rate of blacks. Colorado Public Radio
1/23/2013

More of the same trap.

Supports
- Study Skills
- Math Skills
- Reading Comprehension
- Tutoring
- Supplemental Instruction

The case for Academic Resiliency.
HOW CHILDREN SUCCEED: Grit, Curiosity, and
the Hidden Power of Character by PAUL TOUGH
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by
Carol Dweck
Choosing a GOOD Road by Jonathan Brennan

The case for Academic Resiliency.
Marzano’s (Nine) High-Yield Instructional
Strategies By Robert J. Marzano
Student Academic Mindset Interventions by
Jason Snipes, Cheri Fancsali, and Ginger Stoker
2012
Grit: Angela Duckworth

Now the simple to do but hard work.
Learning Objective 3:
To provide a number of
takeaway tools to get you
started in making whatever
supports you have in place for
students much for effective.

So you are convinced, now what?
Use the Continuous Quality
Improvement Model (CQI) to drive
your programing.
In simplest terms; use the three
driving questions
and
The Plan, Do, Study, Act/Reflect model.

The 3 questions
What am I (are we) trying
to accomplish?
How will I (we) know a
change is an improvement?
What changes can I (we)
make that will result in
improvement?

Power points
Evidence
based or
best
practice
Improve
technique
Standardize
procedure
Introduce
new
technology
Simplify a
process
35

Measurement
Maybe the most difficult for some is the how do
we measure?
Included are several examples that you may try
and don’t be afraid to develop your own.
Without measurement you can not determine
program effectiveness, negative or positive
impact and you have no grounds for creating
program sustainability.

In closing
I hope you have some level of excitement about
Academic Resiliency (AR) and its potential to
make a difference.
You have a better idea of why AR is so
important.
You have some good materials to start with for
incorporating a focus on AR into our student
supports.