True Grit: Trait-Level Perseverance and Passion for Long-Term Goals Predicts Effectiveness and Retention among Novice Teachers

Background/Context Surprisingly little progress has been made in linking teacher effectiveness and retention to factors observable at the time of hire. The rigors of teaching, particularly in low-income school districts, suggest the importance of personal qualities that have so far been difficult to measure objectively. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study In this study, we examine the predictive validity of personal qualities not typically collected by school districts during the hiring process. Specifically, we use a psychological framework to explore how biographical data on grit, a disposition toward perseverance and passion for long-term goals, explains variance in novice teachers’ effectiveness and retention. Research Design In two prospective, longitudinal samples of novice teachers assigned to schools in low-income districts (N = 154 and N = 307, respectively), raters blind to outcomes followed a 7-point rubric to rate grit from information on college activities and work experience extracted from teachers’ résumés. We used independent-samples, t-tests, and binary logistic regression models to predict teacher effectiveness and retention from these grit ratings as well as from other information (e.g., SAT scores, college GPA, and interview ratings of leadership potential) available at the time of hire. Conclusions/Recommendations Grittier teachers outperformed their less gritty colleagues and were less likely to leave their classrooms midyear. Notably, no other variables in our analysis predicted either effectiveness or retention. These findings contribute to a better understanding of what leads some novice teachers to outperform others and remain committed to the profession. In addition to informing policy decisions surrounding teacher recruitment and development, this investigation highlights the potential of a psychological framework to explain why some individuals are more successful than others in meeting the rigorous demands of teaching.

[1]  Jacob S. Orleans,et al.  Supplement: Report of the Committee on the Criteria of Teacher Effectiveness1 , 1952 .

[2]  F. E. Ellis,et al.  Schoolteacher , 1975 .

[3]  Warren W. Willingham,et al.  Success in College: The Role of Personal Qualities and Academic Ability , 1985 .

[4]  P. Kane.  The First year of teaching : real world stories from America's teachers , 1992 .

[5]  S. DeLaune,et al.  Learned optimism. , 1993, Aspen's advisor for nurse executives.

[6]  H. Young,et al.  Development and psychometric evaluation of the Resilience Scale. , 1993, Journal of nursing measurement.

[7]  Helen F. Ladd,et al.  Holding Schools Accountable: Performance-Based Reform in Education. , 1996 .

[8]  Larry V. Hedges,et al.  The Effect of School Resources on Student Achievement , 1996 .

[9]  Eric A. Hanushek,et al.  Assessing the Effects of School Resources on Student Performance: An Update , 1997 .

[10]  Darrell L. Fisher,et al.  Associations between Teacher Personality and Classroom Environment. , 1997 .

[11]  E. Hanushek,et al.  Teachers, Schools, and Academic Achievement , 1998 .

[12]  Melinda Scott Krei.  Intensifying the Barriers: The Problem of Inequitable Teacher Allocation in Low-Income Urban Schools , 1998 .

[13]  William,et al.  Cumulative and Residual Effects of Teachers on Future Student Academic Achievement , 1999 .

[14]  D. Brewer,et al.  Does Teacher Certification Matter? High School Teacher Certification Status and Student Achievement , 2000 .

[15]  M. Podgursky,et al.  Reforming Teacher Preparation and Licensing: What is the Evidence?. , 2000 .

[16]  David Labaree.  On the Nature of Teaching and Teacher Education , 2000 .

[17]  S. Farkas,et al.  A Sense of Calling: Who Teaches and Why. A Report from Public Agenda. , 2000 .

[18]  L. Darling-Hammond.  Teacher Quality and Student Achievement: A Review of State Policy Evidence , 2000 .

[19]  B. Roberts,et al.  The rank-order consistency of personality traits from childhood to old age: a quantitative review of longitudinal studies. , 2000, Psychological bulletin.

[20]  G. Glass.  Teacher Quality and Student Achievement: A Review of State Policy Evidence , 2000 .

[21]  Richard M. Ingersoll,et al.  Teacher Turnover and Teacher Shortages: An Organizational Analysis , 2001 .

[22]  L. Darling-Hammond.  Inequality and Access to Knowledge , 2001 .

[23]  R. Rosenthal,et al.  Meta-analysis: recent developments in quantitative methods for literature reviews. , 2001, Annual review of psychology.

[24]  Susanna Loeb,et al.  Teacher Sorting and the Plight of Urban Schools: A Descriptive Analysis , 2002 .

[25]  Thomas M. Smith,et al.  The Wrong Solution to the Teacher Shortage. , 2003 .

[26]  Howard H. Ebmeier.  How Supervision Influences Teacher Efficacy and Commitment: An Investigation of a Path Model. , 2003 .

[27]  Peter A. Youngs,et al.  Teacher Characteristics and Student Achievement Gains: A Review , 2003 .

[28]  Susan Moore Johnson,et al.  Pursuing a “Sense of Success”: New Teachers Explain Their Career Decisions , 2003 .

[29]  Jonah E. Rockoff.  The Impact of Individual Teachers on Student Achievement: Evidence from Panel Data , 2004 .

[30]  R. Rothstein.  Class and schools : using social, economic, and educational reform to close the Black-white achievement gap , 2004 .

[31]  K. Walsh,et al.  Increasing the Odds: How Good Policies Can Yield Better Teachers. , 2004 .

[32]  Cassandra M. Guarino,et al.  A Review of the Research Literature on Teacher Recruitment and Retention , 2004 .

[33]  A. W. Hoy,et al.  Collective Efficacy Beliefs:Theoretical Developments, Empirical Evidence, and Future Directions , 2004 .

[34]  L. R. Goldberg,et al.  THE STRUCTURE OF CONSCIENTIOUSNESS: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION BASED ON SEVEN MAJOR PERSONALITY QUESTIONNAIRES , 2005 .

[35]  Helen F. Ladd,et al.  Who teaches whom? Race and the distribution of novice teachers , 2005 .

[36]  M. Hamilton,et al.  Who Stays in Teaching and Why?: A Case Study of Graduates from the University of Kansas’ 5th-Year Teacher Education Program , 2005 .

[37]  G. DeFriese,et al.  The New York Times , 2020, Publishing for Libraries.

[38]  Fred A. Mael.  A CONCEPTUAL RATIONALE FOR THE DOMAIN AND ATTRIBUTES OF BIODATA ITEMS , 2006 .

[39]  A. Bakker,et al.  The Measurement of Work Engagement With a Short Questionnaire , 2006 .

[40]  Stephanie Hatheway,et al.  Class and Schools - Using Social, Economic, and Educational Reform to Close the Black-White Achievement Gap , 2006 .

[41]  Helen F. Ladd,et al.  Teacher Credentials and Student Achievement in High School: A Cross-Subject Analysis with Student Fixed Effects , 2007 .

[42]  Q. Gu,et al.  Teachers Resilience: A Necessary Condition for Effectiveness. , 2007 .

[43]  Leanna Stiefel,et al.  From Districts to Schools: The Distribution of Resources Across Schools in Big City School Districts , 2007 .

[44]  Angela L. Duckworth,et al.  Grit: perseverance and passion for long-term goals. , 2007, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[45]  Daniel F. McCaffrey,et al.  From Data to Bonuses: A Case Study of the Issues Related to Awarding Teachers Pay on the Basis of Their Students' Progress. Working Paper 2008-14. , 2008 .

[46]  Gregory J. Palardy,et al.  Teacher Effectiveness in First Grade: The Importance of Background Qualifications, Attitudes, and Instructional Practices for Student Learning , 2008 .

[47]  B. Roberts,et al.  Personality Trait Change in Adulthood , 2008, Current directions in psychological science.

[48]  M. Seligman,et al.  Please Scroll down for Article the Journal of Positive Psychology Positive Predictors of Teacher Effectiveness , 2022 .

[49]  Martin E. P. Seligman,et al.  Positive education: positive psychology and classroom interventions , 2009 .

[50]  Angela L. Duckworth,et al.  Development and Validation of the Short Grit Scale (Grit–S) , 2009, Journal of personality assessment.

[51]  Brian A. Jacob,et al.  Can You Recognize an Effective Teacher When You Recruit One? , 2008, Education Finance and Policy.

[52]  K. Anders Ericsson,et al.  Deliberate Practice Spells Success : Why Grittier Competitors Triumph at the National Spelling Bee , 2010 .

[53]  Eva Gold,et al.  Philadelphia's Renaissance Schools: A Report on Start up and Early Implementation. , 2011 .

[54]  Jonah E. Rockoff,et al.  provided that full credit, including © notice, is given to the source. Can You Recognize an Effective Teacher When You Recruit One? , 2008 .

[55]  Angela L Duckworth,et al.  What No Child Left Behind Leaves Behind: The Roles of IQ and Self-Control in Predicting Standardized Achievement Test Scores and Report Card Grades. , 2012, Journal of educational psychology.

[56]  Rebecca J. Collie,et al.  School Climate and Social-Emotional Learning: Predicting Teacher Stress, Job Satisfaction, and Teaching Efficacy. , 2012 .

[57]  Nancy E. Perry,et al.  Teachers' relatedness with students: An underemphasized component of teachers' basic psychological needs. , 2012 .