Measuring the Immeasurable: Grit In Education
Every now and then I’m blown away by something I find online. This happened today, when I stumbled across the “GRIT Rubric” created by the College Track program in San Francisco. “College Track is an afterschool, college preparatory program that works to increase high school graduation, college eligibility and enrollment, and college graduation rates in under-resourced communities.” The program is awesome, but what blew me away was the GRIT acronym and student rubric. College Track has broken the word Grit down to four factors: Guts, Resilience, Integrity, and Tenacity. From their site:
It takes a lot beyond academic readiness to succeed in college. Tackling challenges like dealing with a difficult roommate, finding the financial aid office and registering for classes requires resiliency and tenacity, and these are two character traits that College Track San Francisco is targeting.The site is working to make habits of mind and GRIT visible to all students by recognizing positive character traits that are linked to college success.
They went a step farther and created a rubric for students that measures the seemingly immeasurable (check out this talk by Will Richardson on the immeasurable in education).
How cool is that?!?! This program is taking a BIG idea like Grit, and making it tangible for students to understand. In a world that is constantly connected, and “flattening” more and more by the day, the people that succeed need grit. This rubric may be made for college, but it applies to all levels of life. If you want to be successful, you need Guts, Resilience, Integrity, and Tenacity. Please share this with educators, parents, and students you know. It may just open their eyes.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A.J. Juliani is the author of 8 books about learning, including best-sellers Empower, Launch, and Adaptable. He’s worked at every level of education as a teacher, coach, administrator, and UPenn GSE PLN. A.J. speaks around the world about learning, goals, and innovation.
