Perseverance, or what Professor Angela Duckworth has labeled “grit,” is a key personal quality, and perhaps THE key quality, needed for success — according to her research.

I have a lesson plan on grit in my most recent book, Helping Students Motivate Themselves, and thought readers might find it useful to have a The Best…” list with additional resources.

Here are my choices for The Best Resources For Learning About The Importance Of “Grit”:

The Truth About Grit is an excellent article that appeared in the Boston Globe.

This post, The Most Effective Thing I’ve Done To Prepare Students For Standardized Tests, shares one way I have used this idea in my classroom.

Grit: Perseverance and Passion For Long Term Goals is a very accessible summary Professor Duckworth has written about her research.

And here is the link to her actual study of the same name.

If you go to this link and scroll down a little bit you, and your students, can take her “grit study” after free registration.

The Myth of Innate Genius by David Shenk is a related article.

Here are two interviews with Professor Duckworth.

Here’s a short summary of her research.

Here’s a video of a talk Professor Duckworth gave on her research:

This comes from Dr Kathie Nunley’s Educator’s Newsletter: “…task persistence in young adolescents
is extremely predictive of their income and occupational levels as adults. In males, it’s actually more predictive than even intelligence. Researchers
measured task persistence in 13 year olds and found that high task persistence predicted higher grades throughout high school and higher educational
attainment in adulthood. Andersson, H. & Bergman, L. (20100). “The role of task persistence in young adolescence for successful educational and
occupational attainment in middle adulthood.” Developmental Psychology, May 30, preview (no pagination specified).”

You might want to consider starting off a lesson on grit with this video: Now This Is What You Call Perseverance!

The Future of Self-Improvement, Part I: Grit Is More Important Than Talent is not a new research study, but it does give a good short review of the research by Angela Duckworth about the importance of grit,or perseverance.

“The box score shows failure. To Lin, it reads like a teachable moment”

Everything You Wanted To Know About Grit, But Were Afraid To Ask…

In Spite Of Everything is a cartoon representation of a Vincent van Gogh quote.

Black Men’s College Success Depends on Grit, Not Just Grades, Study Finds is from Sarah Sparks at Education Week.

President Obama On Perseverance

Feedback is welcome.

If you found this post useful, you might want to look at the 670 other “The Best…” lists and consider subscribing to this blog for free.