Having read Larry Ferlazzo‘s blog today, this quote caught my eye (and mind).
This comes from Dr Kathie Nunley’s Educator’s Newsletter: “…task persistence in young adolescents is extremely predictive of their income and occupational levels as adults. In males, it’s actually more predictive than even intelligence. Researchers measured task persistence in 13 year olds and found that high task persistence predicted higher grades throughout high school and higher educational attainment in adulthood.
Andersson, H. & Bergman, L. (2010).
Don’t you love when someone spends years and mucho bucks to “discover” what we
already know as teachers? The role of persistence in education cannot be underrated.
How is persistence factored into grades? Should persistence be considered as
important as intelligence in the classroom? Can a student’s ability to be persistent be
honed and improved? What role or responsibility do teachers have in this task?
I feel that persistence has long been underated in the classroom. It is one variable
that students can change. It is also the variable that can lead to improvement of other
academic skills. I feel that teaching the value of persistence falls within the teacher’s
domain. Designing grading systems and curricula that honor and value persistence
is a good first step.
Empathic Education 