Academic Tenacity

2. What is it?
AcademicTenacity is a mindset where
students work hard, and work smart
for a long time.
They look beyond short term concerns
to longer-term, higher order goals.
Withstand challenges and persevere
toward these goals.
AcademicTenacity

3. 69% of dropouts said school did not
motivate or inspire them to work
hard.
Many students that graduate say
the same thing.

4. Most focus on curriculum and
pedagogy.
Add the psychological factors.

5. Beliefs about themselves
Feelings about school
Habits of self-control

6.  Belong academically and socially
 See school as relevant to their future
 Work hard and can postpone immediate
pleasures
 Not derailed by intellectual or social
difficulties
 Seek out challenges
 Remain engaged over the long haul

7. Student’s belief about academic
ability
Fixed mindset
Growth mindset

8. Praise for student
achievement
Ability
Effort

9. Goal Focus
Performance goals focus on
ability
Learning goals focus on growth

10. Cooperative – motivated by
sense of responsibility
Individualistic – may self-
handicap

11. Why do good in school
Long-term purpose for
learning
Become something they
value
Achievable

12. Students’ feelings of social
belonging in school
Quality relationships with peers
and teacher

13. Rise above distractions and
temptations of the moment

15. Perseverance and passion
for long-term goals

16.  Interventions can be brief but produce long
term results
 They can trigger changes in the way students
perceive their ongoing academic success
 Works best when accompanied with
curriculum or pedagogy
 Not one size fits all, need to be customized

17.  Teaching students that intelligence can be
developed (a growth mindset)
 Blackwell,Trzesniewski, & Dweck (2007) Urban,
low-income, African American and Latino 7th
grade students, higher math grades
 Good, Aronson, & Inzlicht (2003) African
American and Latino middle school students at a
rural school , higher state test scores for all in
reading and for girls in math
 Aronson, Fried, & Good (2002) African American
and white college students , higher GPA; greater
valuing and enjoyment of academics

18. Helping students to feel that they
belong or are valued in school
 Walton & Cohen, (2007) AfricanAmerican
college students, higher GPA
 Cohen et al. (2006; 2009) AfricanAmerican
and white middle school students, higher
grades among African American students in
the targeted class

19. Helping students to see how the
curriculum is relevant to their own
lives
 Hulleman & Harackiewcz (2009)White,
AfricanAmerican, Latino, and Asian high
school students higher grades in the targeted
class among students with low initial
expectations of success

20.  Helping students to set goals, identify
obstacles, and learn self-control strategies
 Oyserman, Bybee, &Terry (2006) African
American and Latino middle school students,
higher grades; fewer absences; fewer
disciplinary referrals
 Brigman & Webb (2007) Students in grades 5–9
who scored below 50th percentile on state math
test, higher state test scores in reading and
math

21.  Minority public school students in NYC 7th
grade
 Grades declining, mainly in math
 Six-session workshop focusing on study skills
and how the brain grows new connections.
 Students showed an increase in math scores

22. 2.52
2.45
2.37
2.54
2.6
2.68
2.2
2.25
2.3
2.35
2.4
2.45
2.5
2.55
2.6
2.65
2.7
2.75
Pre-Int Post-Int
Control
Mindset

23.  Teachers were unaware of the intervention
being used and saw significant changes in
students behavior
 Students put more effort into homework
 Students requested extra help to understand
concepts being taught
 Grades improved in all subjects for students

24.  20 schools in NYC completed online version of
growth mindset intervention called “Brainology”
 All schools reported an increase in tenacity
 “I concentrate better on tests as well as
homework. I have also been very responsible,
and I know I can do what I put my mind to.”
 “I used to give up easily and now I keep on
trying.”
 “Now, my attitude towards the subjects that I
have trouble in [is] I try harder to study and
master the skills that I have problems in.”

25.  Students staying engaged, achieving goals,
feeling included and respected by others in
school is their sense of social belonging.
 Building students sense of social belonging in
school can lift them out of everyday worries.
 One study helpingAfricanAmerican students
transitioning to college.
 Older students wrote essays to younger
students describing their adjustment
experience to college.

26.  Most students in the study expressed
appreciation and learned great things.
 “I’ve gained more reassurance that everyone
has their doubts…but manage to overcome
them.”
 “Information from senior students makes my
struggle to transition seem more normal and
I felt less isolated.”
 Grades increased

27.  Middle school students rank personal values
in terms of importance.
 Wrote for 15 minutes why values that they
chose were important to them.
 Control group wrote why their low ranked
value might be important to someone else.
 Students improved grades by 20%.

28.  Students need to have the personal
understanding as to way school is relevant to
themselves, their lives, and their society.
 When students are told what they are learning
will impact not only their life but the lives of
those around them.
 Studies show that the work longer and harder at
learning the content.
 They processed the lesson more deeply and
retained information for a longer period of time.

30.  Intervention to encourage students to see
relevance of science in their lives.
 Once a month students were asked to write a
brief essay describing how the material that they
were learning applied to their lives.
 Results were those students in the study had
more interest in taking more science classes and
earned better grades compared to students not
in the study.
 In the study a gain in grades was only seen when
the student came up with the reason why the
schoolwork was relevant.

31.  “Future self”
 Study included 8th graders, inner city schools
 10 session workshop which had them
describe what kind of adult they would like to
be like and the obstacle that they might face
and how to over come those obstacles.
 Results were less absences, less discipline
problems, and higher grades.

32. 0.95
2.51
1.64
0.89
1.57
1.36
9th grade no
rentention
Hours spent on
homework per week
Average 9th grade
GPA
Future Self
Study Control

33.  Student Success Skills Program
 Focused on 5th-9th graders that scored below 50th
percentile on state tests.
 Taught students how to set goals, monitor
progress toward those goals, and how to handle
high-pressure situations.
 Students also taught stress management
techniques.
 Results were higher test scores that continued
for over 2 years after they had gone through the
program.

34.  Jamie Escalante
 “Stand and Deliver”
 Inner-city LA school trying to get students to
reach their full potential.
 AP calculus exam only taken by 2% of
students nation wide.
 In 1987 Escalante’s students accounted for
26% of all MexicanAmericans to receive
college credit for taking the exam

35.  St. Mel inner-city Catholic school in Chicago
consisting of economically disadvantaged
students.
 Set high standards on learning.
 Expected students to understand information on
a deep level instead of surface level.
 Teachers were expected to give substantial feed
back on all written work.
 For the past 7 years 100% of graduating seniors
have been accepted into college and half of
those have gone to top-tier or Ivy League
schools.

36.  Xavier University
 Since 1993 they have placed more African
American students into medical school that any
other university.
 Sets high standards with a rigorous curriculum
and an intensive college prep program.
 Education philosophy: “The mind is an unlimited
facility, that if you give the support, provided the
environment and teachers, young people will
exceed their own potential.”

37.  Challenge the students
Set high attainable standards
Attention to students

38.  Scaffolding
Cognitive
Substantive feedback
Motivational
Goal setting
Self-management strategies

39.  Belonging
Learning environments should cultivate a
students feelings of belonging
Positive relationships with responsible adults

40.  Rigorous, supportive learning environment
promotes student tenacity.
 Student outcomes were most improved when
a caring and supportive environment was
combined with “academic press” or a focus
on learning and high expectations.
 Educators need to send the message in word
and deed that their students truly belong and
have great potential.