"Teaching Adolescents To Become Learners" summarizes the research on five categories of noncognitive factors that are related to academic performance: academic behaviors, academic perseverance, academic mindsets, learning strategies, and social skills, and proposes a framework for thinking about how these factors interact to affect academic performance, and what the relationship is between noncognitive factors and classroom/school context, as well as the larger socio-cultural context. It examines whether there is substantial evidence that noncognitive factors matter for students' long-term success, clarifying how and why these factors matter, determining if these factors are malleable and responsive to context, determining if they play a role in persistent racial/ethnic or gender gaps in academic achievement, and illuminating how educators might best support the development of important noncognitive factors within their schools and classrooms. The review suggests some promising levers for change at the classroom level, and challenges the notion that hard work and effort are character traits of individual students, instead suggesting that the amount of effort a student puts into academic work can depend, in large part, on instructional and contextual factors in the classroom. In addition, the review also presents challenges for future research on noncognitive factors. This work was supported by Raikes Foundation and Lumina Foundation.
About the Author: CAMILLE A. FARRINGTON, PHD, is a Research Associate (Assistant Professor) at the School of Social Service Administration (SSA) at the University of Chicago and a research affiliate at UChicago CCSR. She serves as Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment at the Network for College Success at SSA, working with Chicago Public Schools (CPS) transformation high schools as part of a federal School Improvement Grant. MELISSA RODERICK, PHD, is the Hermon Dunlap Smith Professor at SSA and a co-director at UChicago CCSR, where she leads the organization's postsecondary research. Professor Roderick is also the co-director of the Network for College Success, a network of high schools focused on developing high-quality leadership and student performance in Chicago's high schools. ELAINE ALLENSWORTH, PHD is the Executive Director of UChicago CCSR. She conducts research on factors affecting school improvement and students' educational attainment, including high school graduation, college readiness, curriculum and instruction, and school organization and leadership. JENNY NAGAOKA is the Deputy Director of UChicago CCSR. Her current work uses linked quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the relationship among high school preparation, college choice, and postsecondary outcomes for CPS students. TASHA SENECA KEYES is a second-year doctoral student at SSA. She worked as a school social worker in Utah before returning to school. DAVID W. JOHNSON is a research assistant at the Chicago Postsecondary Transition Project at UChicago CCSR and a doctoral candidate at SSA. NICOLE O. BEECHUM is a doctoral student at SSA. She received her AM from SSA in 2006 and a BA in Political Science from Mount Saint Mary's College in Los Angeles. The University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research (UChicago CCSR) builds the capacity for school reform by conducting research that identifies what matters for student success and school improvement. Created in 1990, UChicago CCSR conducts research of high technical quality that can inform and assess policy and practice in the Chicago Public Schools. UChicago CCSR studies also have informed broader national movements in public education. UChicago CCSR encourages the use of research in policy action and improvement of practice but does not argue for particular policies or programs.