How can we best prepare children and adolescents to thrive in the 21st century—an era of rapidly evolving technology and new opportunities to learn, collaborative and global knowledge work, changing workforce needs, and complex economic and national security interests? Our focus on aspects of academic success such as attainment of content knowledge is necessary, however, creating opportunities to engage and develop a much richer set of skills is critical. Today, this includes exploring the potential of “noncognitive” factors—attributes, dispositions, social skills, attitudes, and intrapersonal resources, independent of intellectual ability—that high-achieving individuals draw upon to succeed.
The Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education asked SRI’s Center for Technology in Learning to take a close look at a core set of noncognitive factors—grit, tenacity, and perseverance. These are the factors that facilitate an individual’s capacity to strive for and succeed at fulfilling long-term and higher-order goals, and persist in the face of challenges and setbacks. We asked for this work to be done with an eye toward identifying the potential new roles that technology might play.
Last week, OET released Expanding Evidence Approaches for Learning in a Digital World, a report that examines the rapid evolution of new technologies to capture, organize and analyze vast quantities of data, and we were interested in the role of new types of data and analytic capabilities in supporting grit, tenacity, and perseverance.
Building from a broad review of the research literature and interviews with thought leaders, this brief examines the extent to which grit, tenacity, and perseverance are malleable and teachable, how to measure these factors, and how to design learning environments that promote them. It includes key conclusions and recommendations tailored to the needs and responsibilities of educators, administrators, policymakers, technology designers, parents, and researchers.
We welcome your input as we continue the dialogue around designing the best possible learning environments for ensuring every student’s success. We are interested in hearing what you think!
Bernadette Adams is a senior policy analyst at the U.S. Department of Education
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