A Network Connecting School Leaders From Around The Globe
Noncognitive Factors As Levers for Improving Academic Achievement
From the Marshall Memo #444
“In addition to content knowledge and academic skills, students must develop sets of behaviors, skills, attitudes, and strategies that are crucial to academic performance in their classes, but that may not be reflected in their scores on cognitive tests,” say Camille Farrington, Melissa Roderick, Elaine Allensworth, Jenny Nagaoka, Tasha Seneca Keyes, David Johnson, and Nicole Beechum in this thoughtful 78-page literature review from the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research. Here is their analysis of why noncognitive factors are so important.
Changes in the U.S. economy have raised the stakes for academic attainment, creating dire consequences for workers without a high-school diploma and some college. In response, American teenagers have dramatically increased their educational aspirations – almost all now say they expect to go to college. States have increased their high-school graduation standards, and middle schools have ramped up expectations (for example, algebra in eighth grade). New high-stakes tests hold schools accountable for students reaching the standards. The Common Core State Standards are creating a de facto national curriculum with higher expectations than existed in most states.
However, higher standards and more-rigorous tests in and of themselves won’t produce more college success, say the authors. In fact, there is a weak correlation between standardized test scores and college success. How students do in their high-school courses – their GPA – is a much better predictor of college and life attainment.
Why are high-school grades so much better at predicting success? The authors believe it’s because they capture a range of noncognitive factors that tests don’t measure – factors that turn out to be crucial to helping young people manage new environments and meet new academic and social demands. The authors grouped these noncognitive factors into five categories:
The newfound importance of these noncognitive factors springs from several research projects in recent years:
All three groups of researchers are finding evidence that short-term interventions can bring about striking improvements in students’ noncognitive behaviors, which in turn improves their academic performance.
The authors of this paper aimed to do a more systematic analysis of noncognitive factors than has been conducted before. They reviewed the literature, organized the factors into five categories, and asked five questions about each one. Their focus was on the implications for students in the middle grades, as they entered high school, and transitioning to college. Here is a summary of their findings:
• Academic behaviors – These are “the visible, outward signs that a student is engaged and putting forth effort to learn,” say the authors. They are commonly associated with being a “good student” and lead directly to high academic performance. Academic behaviors include: regularly attending class, arriving ready to work (with the right supplies and materials), doing homework, organizing materials, participating in class, and studying.
• Academic perseverance – This is a student’s tendency to complete school assignments in a timely and thorough manner, to the best of his or her ability, despite distractions, obstacles, or level of challenge. It’s the ability to put a higher, long-term goal – academic achievement – above lower, more immediate pleasures. Perseverance drives positive academic behaviors, which lead to academic performance. It consists of grit, tenacity, delayed gratification, self-discipline, and self-control.
• Academic mindsets – These are the positive psycho-social attitudes or beliefs one has about oneself in relation to academic work. They feed academic perseverance, which in turn drives academic behaviors, which produces academic performance, which circles back and validates positive academic mindsets. “Note that this reciprocal, self-perpetuating system also works in a negative loop,” say the authors. “Negative mindsets stifle perseverance and undermine academic behaviors, which results in poor academic performance. Poor performance in turn reinforces negative mindsets, perpetuating a self-defeating cycle.” Positive academic mindsets manifest themselves in self-statements such as: I belong in this academic community. My ability and competence grow with my effort. I can succeed at this. This work has value for me.
• Learning strategies – These are the processes and tactics one employs to aid in the cognitive work of thinking, remembering, or learning, all of which feed academic perseverance and academic behaviors, producing better academic performance. Learning strategies include: study skills (such as mnemonic devices to help recall facts), metacognitive strategies (like monitoring one’s own comprehension while reading), self-regulated learning (self-correcting when one detects confusion or errors in one’s thinking), goal-setting, and time management.
• Social skills – These “people skills” are frequently mentioned as vital to future work and life outcomes, but their impact on academic achievement is indirect: they feed improvements in academic behaviors, which in turn drive better academic performance. Social skills include: interpersonal skills, empathy, cooperation, assertion, and responsibility.
The overall finding of this study: trying to improve “grit” and perseverance is less productive than working on academic mindsets and learning strategies, especially for students who are transitioning from middle to high school and from high school to college.
Based on their research so far, the authors created a tentative model for how the five factors interact (see an adaptation of their graphic below). These relationships take place within the socio-cultural context of the community, the school and classroom context, and students’ background characteristics. Note that Academic Behaviors is the junction box through which all the other noncognitive factors must operate to have an impact on student achievement.
“Teaching Adolescents to Become Learners: The Role of Noncognitive Factors in Shaping School Performance: A Critical Literature Review” by Camille Farrington, Melissa Roderick, Elaine Allensworth, Jenny Nagaoka, Tasha Seneca Keyes, David Johnson, and Nicole Beechum, a University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research paper, June 2012,
Tags:
SUBSCRIBE TO
SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 2.0
School Leadership 2.0 is the premier virtual learning community for school leaders from around the globe. Our community is a subscription based paid service ($19.95/year or only $1.99 per month for a trial membership) which will provide school leaders with outstanding resources. Learn more about membership to this service by clicking one our links below.
Click HERE to subscribe as an individual.
Click HERE to learn about group membership (i.e. association, leadership teams)
__________________
CREATE AN EMPLOYER PROFILE AND GET JOB ALERTS AT
SCHOOLLEADERSHIPJOBS.COM