1. Measuring and Building Students’
Non-Cognitive Skills to Increase
College Persistence:
A Research-Practitioner
Perspective
Angela Duckworth, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
Donald Kamentz, YES Prep Public Schools
Laura Keane, Mastery Charter Schools

2. What makes students successful?
Non-
Cognitive
Cognitive
? ?

3. What makes students successful?
Non-
Cognitive
Cognitive
IQ, memory, Literally
knowledge, everything
vocabulary, else
etc.

4. What makes students successful?

5. How Did We Get Here?
Build Knowledge:
 Deep dive into the research
 Define framework for non-cogs
Design Research-Based Practices
 Partner with researchers to create
strategies to build non-cogs
Field-Test Theories:
 Conduct interventions and measure
impact

6. Non-Cogs - The Research Mosh Pit

7. DK-LK Practitioner Framework
Key “Non-Cognitive” Habits
Motivation and Learning Strategies Social Capital
Volition self-management interpersonal
the “want” and “will” skills skills
Goal
Self- Grit & setting and Meta- Belonging
Self-
Mindset Control resilience cognition advocacy
attainment

8. Agenda
 Define It: The Research
 Measure It: Tools & Assessment
 Build It: School-Based Practices
 Questions & Answers

9. Agenda
 Define It: The Research
 Measure It: Tools & Assessment
 Build It: School-Based Practices
 Questions & Answers

10. IQ Alone Doesn't Cut It

11. Self-Control and Grit
Self-Control
 Resisting “in the moment”
temptations
 Delaying gratification
Grit
 Passion and perseverance for very
long-term goals

12. Goal Setting & Goal Planning
Gabriele Oettingen & Angela Duckworth
If you dream it,
predict and plan for
Volition
obstacles…then
you can achieve it!
If you dream it, you
can achieve it.

13. Goal Attainment: MCII
 Mental Contrasting promotes effective goal
setting
◦ What is my goal?
◦ What good thing will happen if I achieve this goal?
◦ What obstacles stand in the way of my reaching this
goal?
 Implementation Intention plans specify where,
when, and how you will get around the
obstacles
◦ “If it is a weekday at 6pm, then I will go to my bedroom
and do my work.”
◦ And, “If my brother bothers me, then I will…”

15. Mindset Matters:
Carol Dweck / David Yeager
Mindset
Performance Behavior

16. Beliefs about Intelligence
Fixed Growth
mindset mindset
goals look smart learn
values effort, help
no yes
& strategy?
response to work harder and
give up
challenge smarter
changes in grades decrease increase

17. Social Belonging / Social Capital
Taken from Greg Walton and Geoff Cohen Study

18. From skills to habits
 “Our virtues are
habits as much as
our vices…our nervous
systems have grown to
the way in which they
have been exercised,
just as a sheet of paper
or a coat, once creased
or folded, tends to fall
forever afterward into
the same identical
folds.”
--William James (1899)
18

19. Agenda
 Define It: The Research
 Measure It: Tools & Assessment
 Build It: School-Based Practices
 Questions & Answers

20. Measure It: The Tools
Take The 10-item
Grit Scale

21. How do you compare?
Percentile Men (N = 4,169) Women (N = 6,972)
10 2.50 2.50
20 2.83 2.88
30 3.06 3.13
40 3.25 3.25
50 3.38 3.50
60 3.54 3.63
70 3.75 3.79
80 3.92 4.00
90 4.21 4.25
100 5.00 5.00

22. “Not getting off the treadmill”:
What grit predicts…

23. National College Persistence Study
Research Focus Academia Partners K-12 Practitioners
Partners
Possible correlation between John Gabrieli (MIT)
non-cognitive traits and Chris Gabrieli (Harvard) District(s)
student performance Upper Darby (PA), Lawrence (MA),
Philadelphia (PA), Boston (MA),
Spring Branch (TX)
Non-cognitive factors, grit, Angela Duckworth
self-control, goal-setting, CMOs
(Penn) Achievement First (CT), Aspire
decision-making; theory of Sidney D’ Mello
deliberate practice (CA), Mastery (PA) & YES Prep
(Notre Dame) (TX)
Malleable intelligence, Carol Dweck (Stanford)
fixed vs. growth-mindset, Greg Walton (Stanford)
social belonging Geoff Cohen (Stanford)
David Yeager (UT-Austin)

24. Mindset Pilot
“…Not all students know
that the brain can get
smarter, even though it may
help them succeed… Write
a letter to your friend telling
them about what you just
learned about the brain and
why they shouldn’t be
discouraged… ”

25. Social Belonging Pilot
“The most difficult
transition from high
school to college was
coming from a situation
where I knew every
student for the past
seven years to a new
situation where I did not
know one student
before I arrived… I was
pretty homesick, and I
had to remind myself
that making close
friends takes time…”

26. Results from Year 1 of Project 3

27. Agenda
 Define It: The Research
 Measure It: Tools & Assessment
 Build It: School-Based Practices
 Questions & Answers

28. Implementation:
Putting Theories Into Practice
 What to implement?
◦ A psychological experience
◦ NOT a handout
 How do you change psychology and make it
matter over time?
◦ “Stealthy”
◦ Self-reinforcing through school experience
 What do you need to design and implement?
◦ Student-centered approach
◦ Continued evaluation

29. Putting Theories Into Practice
• Educator as Coach: Making Them Thirsty
• “Stealthy” Messaging
• MCII: Senior Grit Case Studies
• Culture Rituals
• PD: “Wise Feedback”
• Experiential Learning to Build Students’
Social Capital

31. Educator as Coach
“You can lead a horse to
water, but you can’t
make it drink.”
But how do we
make it thirsty?

32. “Not-so-stealthy” Messaging
10,000 Students, College Ready
By providing you with a high-
quality, college prep curriculum,
YES Prep will undoubtedly
prepare you to be a successful
college student.
YES Prep will also provide you
with many opportunities and
resources that you will be able to
utilize throughout your college
career.

33. “Stealthy” Messaging

34. I Am
Sam
Shoemaker – ’11
Bucknell University – ’15 MASTERY
“College is challenging, it’s
supposed to be. However, it
isn’t impossible. As long as
you go to class, do your
work and stay focused, it
can be a lot easier than you
may think.”

35. MCII: Senior Grit Case Studies
 Plan for College Persistence WHILE in HS
 Senior Project: Grit College Study
◦ Theory: Based on Oettingen and Duckworth’s
MCII work
Products
Case Study Analysis
Campus Support Chart
Off Campus Support Team
Campus Map complete with all services labeled

36. Senior Signing Day Celebration

37. Professional Development:
“Wise Feedback”

38. Control group:
I’m giving you
these comments
so you have
feedback on your
essay.

39. “Wise feedback” group:
I’m giving you these
comments because I
have high standards
and I know that you
can meet them.

41. Experiential Learning to
Build Social Capital
Internships
Summer Opportunities
College Visits

42. Next Steps for the Field…
SOLIDIFY common definitions
around the non-cognitive skills.
VALIDATED assessment tools that
broadly captures non-cognitive
ability versus discreet skills or traits.
PROVEN and SCALABLE
interventions.

44. Hot off the Press!!!

45. Agenda
 Define It: The Research
 Measure It: Tools & Assessment
 Build It: School-Based Practices
 Questions & Answers

46. Presenter Contact Information
Angela Duckworth, Ph.D., duckwort@psych.upenn.edu
Assistant Professor, Psychology
University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA)
Donald Kamentz, donald.kamentz@yesprep.org
Managing Director of College and Career Initiatives
YES Prep Public Schools (Houston, TX)
Laura Keane, laura.keane@masterycharter.org
Director of College Initiatives
Mastery Charter Schools (Philadelphia, PA)