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While Christmas shopping with my wife this year, we passed a chocolate shop in the mall with a glossy, color poster in the window of something I thought to be a strange combination - Sea Salt Caramels. While both "sea salt" and "caramels" are good, I had never imagined them going together - and then my wife made me try one. "Genius!" I shouted as I chewed on the first bite.
Much like my surprise at the genius of sea salt and caramel, some people may be surprised to hear that creativity and grit are also a handsome pair. Creativity may spark images of calm, serene, art-filled scenes with beautiful landscapes; while grit may spark images of sleeves being rolled up, furrowed brows, and sweat on an upper lip. This is where the genius of it all lies. By taking two different concepts, such as with sea salt and caramel, and joining them together (like grit and creativity), we become witness to empowering genius! Grit is what I call a "power trait," and it is something that we can help to purposefully foster in students.Purposefully. This power trait can be developed by allowing for what David and Tom Kelley call "Creative Confidence" (click here) to be developed in students. For far too long, creativity has been stripped form our children's classroom experiences. Children begin school as the most curious of beings - always wondering, craving more information, seeking to understand why and how things are the way they are. Sadly, it does not take long for these children to learn what often really matters in school: compliance, correct answers, being on time, and standing in straight lines (don't forget to keep your hands to yourself!). It is an industrial model of education that resulted from the need to create good, dutiful line workers. This system was further bolstered by the era of high-stakes accountability tests that swept the nation the past few decades. Insomuch, children are quickly trained to fear failure, to fear straying off the "right" path. Sometimes, even when we say that we want students to be creative, we will unwittingly keep them inside the proverbial box. And because they are trained to fear failure, they often lack the inspiration, or the will to take on tough challenges, and to struggle through something. This embrace of struggle is what I mean by "grit." We allow for creativity to abound for students when they have the chance to tinker, create, explore, and design - without a lot of rules and "boxes." It is within this space that they will begin to realize their creative potential. When we add in a rich appreciation of empathy - students begin to realize both a creative might and the potential for making an impact on the world around them. This significantly impacts their academic self-efficacy. Academic self-efficacy may be explained as "a student’s expectations for him or herself in relation to school achievement; and motivation thereof" (Chagala, 2012). When students increase their self-efficacy then they "set their sights higher, try harder, persevere longer, and show more resilience in the face of failure..." and they "act with greater courage, and have more persistence in tackling obstacles" (@kelleybros, p. 10). So how do we do this? How can we foster creativity in students, and expect that an outcome from that creativity will be grit? In the new school that we are developing, we are striving to accomplish just this by embracing the practice of "Design Thinking" as the backbone for framing our curriculum. In this effort, we hope to unleash student imagination as we push them to become problem-finders, and solution-designers. To do so, they will need to learn about empathy and to understand the viewpoints/experiences of others, we will need to spark their creativity and honor their imaginations, and they will need to have the grit to persevere - to never give up. By building on these core concepts, we know that we will be able to change the paradigm of schools for hundreds of students a year. You may learn more about Design Thinking and our program at our website (click here). Much of my professional time in the past decade has been researching, observing, and studying why some students - particularly low-income, Latino youth are successful in school, while many others are not - and what can be done to change that paradigm for the neighborhoods in which we serve.
My findings have been that some students reach a critical juncture in their schooling & life experiences - they had developed a rich sense of resiliency. That is to say that despite difficult life-circumstances, some students are able to overcome, and achieve at a high level in school - despite what they face in life. By doing so, these students take the first step towards changing the paradigm of their futures, and the status quo's of their families. I have discovered first-hand that students who have developed this resiliency have certain critical factors in common with one another. They share a set of "protective factors." These protective factors include: Institutional Agents (important adults, certain programs, and other connections within a school), Motivation (high self-efficacy, desire for a better life), how they are treated by White peers & teachers, and Belonging (school connectedness, and an essence of family amongst other high-achieving students). As someone with this background, the seeming recent rise in the use of the word "grit" to describe a trait within students has interested me greatly. On the surface, "grit" seems to be an edgy replacement for its more academic-sounding cousin, "resiliency," but as I will explain briefly in this post - the two are indeed powerful cousins, but not synonyms. Some quick examples of places that grit is being used as an important, and even measured trait within education today include: the highly successful Charter School system, KIPP. They use "Grit" as one of their character development traits (click here) that is reported on a special report card. The Realm Charter School in Berkeley, Ca uses "Grit" in its Expected School-wide Learning Results (click here), and the founding faculty of the new magnet school we are working to open came to consensus on using the term "Grit" as part of our own Core Values (click here) that students and adults will aspire towards. Most people familiar with the term "grit" in relation to education have probably heard Dr. Angela Duckworth's TED Talk (click here). If you have not seen it, please talk a few minutes to enjoy it - it is very intriguing. In her TED Talk, she discusses the importance of students having grit, and explains that grit is the passion and perseverance to achieve a future reality. In her talk, she admits that she doesn't yet know exactly how to grow grit in students, but we both give a lot of credence to Dr. Carol Dweck's work on Growth Mindsets (click here to read my blog post entitled "No, I'm Not Smart" from Feb 28, 2013). So how did I derive the title for the blog post: The Power of Grit. Grit is what I call, a "power" trait that we would do well to build, foster, promote, and replicate in ALL students. Grit is edgy. It fosters the "stick-with-it-ness" that we are hungry to see in students - especially as we transition to the greater depth, and higher cognitive demands of the Common Core State Standards. We do not want students to give up, rather we want to empower them to struggle, to collaborate, to ideate, and to bounce back from failure as they tackle unique challenges. We want - we need - students to be risk takers. For their own sake, we need them to indeed be gritty. There is a lot of power in grit. But this is why I maintain that grit and resiliency are cousins and not synonyms. Resilience is what some students need, just to get to the place where they can be gritty. Resilience gets them to the table, past the critical life circumstances working against them, and grit carries them home alongside their peers. In next week's post, I will explore the "Genius of Creativity & Grit" and share how schools can foster grit in students through curriculum & adult expectations. It will be a snapshot into our new school and how we will empower students to reach success through innovative efforts at problem-finding and solution-designing. In the last post, the topic of Institutional Agents was discussed as part of the protective factors that help build the academic resiliency of students to be successful in school. This academic resiliency has been found to be critical in the achievement of traditionally underserved youth and their ability to attend and succeed in college.
Much of this blog has captured actual student voice as the driving factor in the messages shared. This post is no different, and highlights two powerful words shared by a 17 year old, low-income, university-bound, Latina student. Those words: Endless Possibilities. And what gave her such hope? What did she credit such a grand compliment to? The answer = AVID -- the critical cog through middle and high school that got her to where she needed to be. AVID stands for "Advancement Via Individual Determination." But more than a fancy acronym, I found in my research with high-achieving, low-income, Latino students that AVID was the most commonly referenced institutional agent by the students. One of these students explained AVID as “a program that helps students not only gain the necessary skills to be successful in college, but it also helps first generation students learn how to go through the college application.” Much of the rest of this post is dedicated to different student voices in regards to AVID. According to the students, AVID taught them good note-taking and organizational skills and that it also taught them about how to prepare for and apply to college, including accessing financial aid opportunities. One student who joined AVID late in high school did so for the college support aspect. She stated, “I’m the first generation and I really don’t know anything about college, transcripts, admissions and everything.” The student’s friends who were in AVID encouraged her to join because “you might really need help in the whole scholarship process, information about admissions and the college experiences.” Re-emphasizing the importance many of the students placed on the AVID program, one student stated, “I don’t think I would have gone to college if the AVID teachers wouldn’t have pushed me to the right track for a four-year program because no one in my family went to college.” In the same vein, another student reported about her AVID experience that, “People say sometimes it’s not worth it. But I think it’s worth it.” She indicated that the AVID teacher had found “all these scholarships. She’s on top of you so you get your deadlines in, and that’s just been pretty cool.” Another student stated that AVID “motivates you to go to college,” while another student explained that AVID is not just about preparing to apply, but understanding how college works. He commented that AVID “made me come to reality because I was thinking of maybe going to all these different colleges, then the teachers said, you have to look at tuition and see what programs they offer.” This insight helped him to narrow the selections of colleges. In addition to the college assistance aspect of AVID, another student commented that, having been in AVID since sixth grade, what he most enjoyed was the tutorial support. He stated that in the tutorials “you ask a question on a certain topic you’re not comfortable with and as a group, you try to solve it.” Another student shared that in AVID, the teachers help to “basically plan out your 4 years.” This is how one AP teacher summarized the impact of AVID on Latino students in her classes: “I’ve been amazed at how dedicated to, and maybe even reliant, on the programs such as AVID that the students are. It has been important to the Latino students who have been successful in my class.” A final student statement was hopeful of the future because of AVID: “I tell people, AVID doesn’t really change who you are, but what you will become . . . I think that’s amazing.” The student finished her thought with AVID directs “you in what you’re going to do, and gives you, like, endless possibilities, I just think that’s amazing.” Another student who had to drop AVID because of her schedule stated that the note-taking and organizational strategies taught in AVID were still being utilized and that the greatest benefit from having been in the program was “it helped most with college information . . . the stuff I do know about college was because I was in AVID.” So - what practical steps can schools take to help? Offer AVID. Funnel kids into AVID. Appreciate AVID and its teachers for the "endless possibilities" that can exist for students who may otherwise not have that opportunity. We need to have high expectations for students, and AVID is a way in which we help communicate those expectations to students - for their own futures - while remembering that most traditionally underserved youth do not decide in high school that they want to be successful in school - most decide and act on that in middle school. Which may be haunting when hearing quick clips of these two students who indicated that they had wanted to be in AVID in middle school but they believed they were not allowed to take it because they were not "selected." One student, who eventually enrolled in AVID in high school stated, “I remember I really wanted to be in the program in seventh grade but I didn’t get in because I guess they chose the people.” Another student recounted a recent conversation with friends who had been in AVID since middle school and asked them “How come I was never invited” to join AVID in middle school. Powerful reminders as schools across the nation go into their scheduling cycles for next year... What endless possibilities exist, and for whom, where you work? Being caught in the middle of two friends arguing, being caught in the middle of parents separating, and being caught in the middle of right and wrong. Being caught in the middle is hard – we often feel torn and unsure of what to do. It can be an emotionally frightening place to be.
So why would schooling be any different? Being caught in the middle between the safety of elementary school, and the independence of high school is a juncture called middle school. And it is hard. And it is critical that in this space we provide the protective factors necessary for students to build academic resiliency so that students start high school on the right path, with the correct mindset towards success in life. In my research, a key factor in identifying what was “different” about high-achieving, low-income, Latino high school youth from their less successful peers was academic resiliency. This resiliency was critical to the success for each of the students, and the protective factors that fostered that resiliency were similar enough to code into a specific framework. In order to build some essential background on resiliency, so that the word used in these writings is consistent with the readers’ context – a summary of resiliency is provided below. Resilience was explained by Bryan (2005) as “the capacity of an individual to overcome difficult and challenging life circumstances and risk factors” (p. 220). A classic and more specific definition as it relates to academic resilience was offered by Wang, Haertel, and Walberg (1994) who stated that it is “the heightened likelihood of success in school and other life accomplishments despite environmental adversities brought about by early traits, conditions, and experiences” (p. 46). Benard (2004) explained that resiliency is not an isolated trait that some children have, and that others do not have. Rather it is the “innate capacity bolstered by environmental protective factors” (p. 9). Therefore, all students have the capacity to be resilient but this resilience is often in need of being fostered by environmental forces. As suggested by Reis, Colbert, and Hebert (2005), by studying the resiliency in “academically talented students” (p. 112) who have overcome the odds based on their life stories and situations, efforts can be made to recreate the outside forces that helped to foster academic resiliency in students. This suggestion was echoed by Vargas-Reighley (2005) who stated, “By understanding what factors promote resilience, it is argued that we may be more effective at designing prevention and intervention programs that build on existing strengths” (p. 3). The last quotation stated that we need to understand what factors promote this critical resiliency. Some factors have been discussed in earlier posts (motivation, challenge, Mindsets, etc), and they will continue in the future. For now, one such protective factor is institutional agents. This means teachers, other caring adults, programs, and supports within the school to aid with tutoring, life issues, college & career awareness, time & organizational skills, as well as opportunities for school connectedness. It is the deep discussion of these specific issues that will fuel next week’s post, and provide take-away’s for schools that can immediately be done to help build this critical resiliency in all students. After all, it is hard to be caught in the middle.... The middle of the night. The middle of a road trip. The middle of the day; and the middle of the week. Each of these spaces is easily overlooked as crucial in the continuum of here-to-there.
For example, the beginning of a journey is exciting, and the end of a journey is held with anticipation. My daughter began Kindergarten this year – the beginning of the journey of education is hyper-exciting for her. She loves school, she loves learning and she begs to do her homework, read and write stories. My professional experience, until recently, had me working in a high school setting where every year Graduation marked an amazing celebration of success for students who had made it to the end of their K-12 journey. But between elementary school and high school lies an exceptionally important experience, with deep implications for the rest of one’s life, at an early age. That experience? Middle School. Middle School matters. A lot. Because if you don’t make it through the middle, or if your path takes a wrong turn, goes off course, or you lose direction in the middle of any journey – you are bound for troubles, pot-holes, and problems. This week’s post features excerpts from the research literature, and my own research findings to further elevate the importance of middle school in developing the academic resiliency that is proven to be so essential to close the achievement gap for low-income, Latino youth. In the students I did my work with – none of them decided in high school that they were going to be successful and college-bound. That decision was made earlier. The middle matters…. Reason 1: Middle School is a pivotal point in the academic futures of students. It was stated by Shiu, Kettler, and Johnsen (2009) that “the middle school years are a critical time in students’ lives. These years are the foundation for students to learn more about themselves, select their close friends, and form educational aspirations for the future” (p. 58). In addition to this, middle school offers a prime opportunity to reach out, particularly to Latino students and parents because when planning for their futures, middle school students need “detailed information about which curricular programs lead to college admission” and it would “greatly assist many students in making choices that promote higher levels of educational attainment” (Schneider et al., 2006, p. 201). It is also where students get aligned for which courses they will take in high school. The middle matters…. Reason 2: A specific barrier facing Latino youth that often begins in middle school is centered on the experience of Math. Schneider, Martinez, and Owens (2006) shared that in middle school, segregation in math classes begins to track students differently, and those students who do not make it to Algebra by eighth grade are less likely to take advanced math classes in high school and are less likely to express “higher educational aspirations in the tenth grade” (p. 200). A key barrier to access for students in the public university systems of California is the successful completion of Algebra II as a minimum requirement. The middle matters…. But why else does the middle matter? In my research, 100% of the high achieving Latino youth that were studied began their educational journey as English Language Learners (ELL’s) in elementary school, or upon schooling in U.S. schools following their immigration. Insomuch, they were relegated to English Language Development (ELD) courses. What is really key for educators to take note of, however, is that 96% of those students were reclassified from ELD during their elementary or middle school years. This turned out to be a critical factor, because the longer it takes for a student to be reclassified to an all English program in school, the wider the gap between them and their White peers grows. Gandara and Contreras (2009) stated, “If children are not exposed to the English of the classroom—the vocabulary and rhetorical style that make up academic English—they will find it very difficult to decipher academic texts and write essays” (p. 125). The middle matters…. As school systems begin to assess gaps in achievement between different groups, it is an important highlight to note that the development of academic resiliency is important for all students. It is exponentially critical for traditionally underserved youth. And as explained here, there should be an urgency for developing those protective factors that foster academic resiliency by middle school. The middle matters… Mimicking the urgency that a runner feels at the start of a race, so too should educators feel about a race against the clock with middle level students. This critical urgency is with the development ofacademic resiliency that is highlighted by a sense of agency, and a growth mindset in students as they prepare for high school.
My own sense of urgency with the matter comes from my research with low-income, 1st generation college-bound Latino high school students. Next week, we will return to their voice and the experiences in middle school that were telling to their futures. This week, we will build the foundation of critical urgency by reviewing the works of Johnston (2004) and Dweck (2006). Ready, Set, Go! Johnston (2004) wrote about the different levels of agency that students may have, “Children who doubt their competence set low goals and choose easy tasks, and they plan poorly. When they face difficulties, they become confused, lose concentration, and start telling themselves stories about their own incompetence. In the long run they disengage, decrease effort, generate fewer ideas, and become passive and discouraged” (p. 40). He continued, “When children decide that they have no agency with respect to their learning, their learning is limited in terms of both personal experience and potential trajectory” (p. 41). According to Johnston, this often begins in 5th grade, and worsens through the middle level years of school. Fortunately for our youth, a student can develop agency and have the opposite experience of what was explained above. Johnston wrote that students with a strong sense of agency are “competent, (they) plan well, choose challenging tasks, and set higher goals” (p. 41). In short, students with agency had a mindset towards success, and they achieve success. This sense of agency is aligned with Dweck’s growth mindset framework discussed in the prior blog-posting. In fact, in Mindset: The new psychology of success (2006), Dweck specifically pointed to the transition from elementary school to middle level schooling as being a very difficult time for adolescents. Insomuch, this is a time when the development of and fostering of academic resiliency is highly needed – especially for traditionally underserved youth. At this time in school-life, Dweck recognized that “The work gets much harder, the grading policies toughen up, the teaching becomes less personalized. And this all happens while students are coping with their new adolescent bodies and roles. Grades suffer, but not everyone’s grades suffer equally” (p. 57). Both authors found that students with “indistinguishable grades” in elementary school began to separate from one another in junior high school. Students with a fixed mindset showed an immediate drop-off in their grades, while those with a growth mindset showed an increase in their grades. Both sets of grades trended through the middle level experience for students. Look in horror to how Dweck shared that some students with a fixed mindset explained poor academic performance, “Many maligned their abilities: I am the stupidest or I suck in math,” or the students placed blame on their teachers with negative comments, name calling, etc. Ready, Set Go! This is why middle school is such a critical age. The good news? Whether it is Johnston’s discussion of student agency, or Dweck’s terminology of fixed mindset versus growth mindset, they both play directly into academic resiliency in students. And they can all be fostered and developed within students. It is a race against the clock with the malleable spirits of the children within our care that we can help change the trajectory of student futures, with the aid and support from home. So what now? Next week we will reflect upon student voice from the middle school experience for high achieving Latino youth in high school. Then following that, we will dive into the practical side of the equation on how schools and families can foster these different protective factors in their students. Ready, Set, Go! ____________ Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York, NY: Ballantine. Johnston, P. H. (2004). Choice words: How our language affects children’s learning. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers. These words, from a full Diploma candidate for the International Baccalaureate (IB), forever changed the lens of the research that I had been reviewing on low-income, 1st generation college-bound, high-achieving Latino youth. The words pointed to the role of a new psychology in the study of academic resiliency, and the critical elements of that resiliency that this blog is dedicated to.
“No, I’m not smart. I work hard. That’s the difference.” The difference she spoke of was in reference to other Latino students in her school saying that they could never take the kinds of AP and IB classes that she took, because they “weren’t smart enough.” For a qualitative researcher, the smallest nuance of a phrase can change the entire lens for which you assess the coding of your data. “No, I’m not smart. I work hard. That’s the difference.” This mindset of being a hard worker speaks directly to the research of Stanford professor Carol Dweck in her book, Mindset: The new psychology of success (2006), and it provides a platform for better understanding a critical factor of academic resiliency found in the category introduced last week ofinternal motivation. In her research, Dweck explained that two types of mindsets exist. The fixed mindset, and the growth mindset. The difference is that when students (or anyone) has a fixed mindset, they believe that intelligence/aptitude/ability are innate traits that cannot be honed/improved, but that the appearance/image or hope of these things can be lost. This mindset causes many students to resist taking challenges, and in some cases even shutting down in school (as a self-preservation measure). Dweck explains the fixed mindset like this, “Believing that your qualities are carved in stone -- the fixed mindset -- creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over. If you have only a certain amount of intelligence, a certain personality, and a certain moral character” then life’s decisions will be evaluated in terms of “Will I succeed or fail? Will I look smart or dumb? Will I be accepted or rejected? Will I feel like a winner or a loser?” (p. 6), which can be devastating to a student's achievement. Those with the growth mindset, however, believe that challenges are good and that intelligence/aptitude/ability can be honed/developed/learned, and allows for students to be able to step out and take a challenge, to risk being wrong, and not afraid of “being exposed” for someone/thing that they would otherwise be afraid that they are not. Dweck explains, “In this mindset, the hand you’re dealt is just the starting point for development. This growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts. Although people may differ in every which way – in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments – everyone can change and grow through application and experience” (p. 7). “No, I’m not smart. I work hard. That’s the difference.” Mindsets and academic resiliency? Fan the flame of internal motivation by helping students realize their unique potential through the fostering of or development of a growth mindset. And when should that start? Dr. Dweck presents some compelling ideas on why this blogger recommends as early as possible, but by middle school at the latest. In my research with low-income, high achieving Latino youth, it was in middle school that they decided they wanted to be different, that they wanted to achieve. Their minds were set then. But why? Check back next week…. Check out this video for more insight in the relationship between mindset and motivation:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTXrV0_3UjY ___________________________ In being dedicated to an economy of words and respect/appreciation for the time of others, this blog site is committed to about 500 words a week – which was met above the line. Below the line are some insights on how we work with our young daughters on growth mindsets. There are also products that school personnel may be interested in to aid this growth in students in a strategic and fun fashion. Growth mindset: Is it ever too early to start? My daughters are just beginning their educational experiences, but every day we work to remind them that they “make us proud” (versus “I am proud of you"), emphasizing “you tried really hard on that sentence” (versus “Great job, you are so smart"), and “I like how you challenged yourself reading that book” (versus “You did perfect!"). Instill feedback in a way that it is about their effort, not some trait that can be taken away or lost. Beware of the power of praise, and what you praise. Every night, my Kindergartener and I go through the following mantra: "Can you be anything you want when you grow up?" - Yes - "Why" - Because I have good pink heart and a good pink brain, and I am a hard worker. - "What kind of mindset do you have?" - A growth mindset. - "What does that mean?" - That I like a challenge. - "Why do you like a challenge?" - Because I get to learn new things. - "Do you have to be perfect?" - No - "Why not?" - Because it is okay to make mistakes. - "Why is it okay to make mistakes?" - Because that helps me learn new things. There are products available through www.mindsetworks.com that provide professional development for school personnel on mindsets, and student licenses for a web-based digital learning experience called Brainology (don’t worry, Dr. Dweck has no idea who I am and I have nothing to gain from the Mindset products or book). A high school I worked at in the Fall did a small pilot of the Brainology product with highly at-risk students. I will get written feedback from that effort and share it in next week’s post. In last week’s maiden post for this blog-spot, student voice anchored the essential core essence of this work. In that, one insightful 17 year old Latina provided sage, and inspirational advice to other traditional underserved youth: “No one can ever take your spot.” This highlighted the sense that students should never give up, that they do matter, and that all students are worthy enough to succeed.
“No one can ever take your place.” But how do we convince students of that? What do we do to aid them? What do we do as schools and communities to ensure this promise? How do we foster this critical resilience? In 1983, the landmark survey of the American education system “A Nation at Risk” (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983) reported that one of the greatest dangers to the nation was betraying the spirit of the values on which America was built. The report stated “All, regardless of race or class or economic status, are entitled to a fair chance to the tools for developing their individual powers of mind and spirit to the utmost” (pg. 1). The fair chance was the opportunity for all students to be given the knowledge and skills needed to be successful in life. This opportunity, ostensibly, would come from the public school system. In some schools and communities, this fair chance is a “given.” In other schools and communities, this fair chance is something that is strived for and toiled upon by all involved. And in other schools and communities, this fair chance is more like a raw deal. This all begs the question of what practical ways can schools help rally to provide the fair chance for all students, so that no one can ever take their spot? The answer is simply-complicated! Simple because the answer is research-based in that schools can help to build the academic resiliency of the students in their care. Complicated because providing this support needs to be overt and calculated. Schools need to be reflective as they strategically, and purposefully help build and harness the “Protective Factors” that help provide for and insulate children with resilience in school. These protective factors are what shield students from the realities of their status-quos’ and allow for them to be resilient. To never let anyone take their spot. To be ensured of a fair chance. In so much, the next 4 week’s posts will delve into examples of protective factors that my own research found to aid in the resiliency of low-income, 1st generation college-bound, Latino youth, and to provide a discussion of each example within the scope of 500 words. Be fore-warned, however, these protective factors are wildly complex and interwoven – and some of the themes even play a dual-role in having the potential to be risk factors for students, and/or for being protective factors… So, what are they? They are: motivation, institutional agents, belonging, and cultural identity. Can you guess which 2 of those 4 can be either a risk factor or a protective factor? If so, can you then extrapolate that thought to how certain tweaks to “business as usual” and perceptions in schools throughout the land could help close the Achievement Gap for so many children? Simple tweaks, because all kids deserve to not have anyone take their place. In last week’s maiden post for this blog-spot, student voice anchored the essential core essence of this work. In that, one insightful 17 year old Latina provided sage, and inspirational advice to other traditional underserved youth: “No one can ever take your spot.” This highlighted the sense that students should never give up, that they do matter, and that all students are worthy enough to succeed.
“No one can ever take your place.” But how do we convince students of that? What do we do to aid them? What do we do as schools and communities to ensure this promise? How do we foster this critical resilience? In 1983, the landmark survey of the American education system “A Nation at Risk” (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983) reported that one of the greatest dangers to the nation was betraying the spirit of the values on which America was built. The report stated “All, regardless of race or class or economic status, are entitled to a fair chance to the tools for developing their individual powers of mind and spirit to the utmost” (pg. 1). The fair chance was the opportunity for all students to be given the knowledge and skills needed to be successful in life. This opportunity, ostensibly, would come from the public school system. In some schools and communities, this fair chance is a “given.” In other schools and communities, this fair chance is something that is strived for and toiled upon by all involved. And in other schools and communities, this fair chance is more like a raw deal. This all begs the question of what practical ways can schools help rally to provide the fair chance for all students, so that no one can ever take their spot? The answer is simply-complicated! Simple because the answer is research-based in that schools can help to build the academic resiliency of the students in their care. Complicated because providing this support needs to be overt and calculated. Schools need to be reflective as they strategically, and purposefully help build and harness the “Protective Factors” that help provide for and insulate children with resilience in school. These protective factors are what shield students from the realities of their status-quos’ and allow for them to be resilient. To never let anyone take their spot. To be ensured of a fair chance. In so much, the next 4 week’s posts will delve into examples of protective factors that my own research found to aid in the resiliency of low-income, 1st generation college-bound, Latino youth, and to provide a discussion of each example within the scope of 500 words. Be fore-warned, however, these protective factors are wildly complex and interwoven – and some of the themes even play a dual-role in having the potential to be risk factors for students, and/or for being protective factors… So, what are they? They are: motivation, institutional agents, belonging, and cultural identity. Can you guess which 2 of those 4 can be either a risk factor or a protective factor? If so, can you then extrapolate that thought to how certain tweaks to “business as usual” and perceptions in schools throughout the land could help close the Achievement Gap for so many children? Simple tweaks, because all kids deserve to not have anyone take their place. "I'm hoping that other Latino students open up their stories. It's hard to, I understand. But those stories need to be heard. Because if they are never heard, then you're never going to change anything. There's never going to be anything done" (17 yr old female).
The discussion of resilience and the critical nature of the topic could easily become a philosophical and/or theoretically nuanced bunch of words-upon-words if not rightly anchored to an essential core essence. What core essence should that be? The one that is probably most left-out and underused in Educational discussions: Student Voice. They said it, not me. Here are some snippets of student voice that inspired the creation and dedication to this work. Their voice will begin and end this 1st entry, our work has just begun. "Because we're poor ... that really is the base barrier to overcome. Sometimes you don't have enough money and you can't give enough time to your school work because you have to help your family" (16 yr old, Latino male). What about the fragile cultural self-worth of one student who experienced this in middle school: "Why are you so smart, you're a Mexican?" That student was, in her words, painfully "ashamed of being Mexican because I felt like, oh, if I say I'm Mexican, they're going to think I'm stupid ... So I went through this period where I was like, I'm American, I'm American." Even though those hurtful-type words were not said to her ever in her high school career of Honors, AP, and IB classes, she shared that "I was really conscious about what that person had said, and so, I like, I carried it" (17 yr old Latina). "It makes me sad that so many other Latino students don't seem to care so much about school. I feel like it's a horrible thing because so many of them have so much potential and they just push away because they don't have the support system or they don't want to try" (16 yr old Latino). Some sage advice for other Latino students, from an insightful young woman: "You can work hard, but it also takes a lot of confidence and believing in yourself. You need to learn the value of who you are; you've been through a lot. That doesn't mean you're not somebody. No matter where you come from, even if you came from a situation like I did, where I felt like I was nothing or I wasn't worthy enough - that's not true. You are. You matter. No one can ever take your spot" (17 yr old Latina). No one can ever take your spot. Such a powerful phrase. So insightful, so soulful. No one can ever take your spot. Let's teach our disadvantaged youth to live by that phrase. Let that be our mantra and the rallying cry for equity and access to the same great opportunities in education, and thus society, for all students. No one can ever take your spot. |
CritRes..."Critical Resilience" This work is dedicated to the equal and fair education of all children, locally and globally. Archives
January 2014
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