In his second book, Paul Tough writes of an after-school program, OneGoal and its CEO Jeff Nelson. Nelson recruits all of the teachers for the program from public schools in the low-income Chicago districts, and after they have volunteered, each teacher selects a class of 25 sophomores with less than impressive grades. Those teachers stay with the students through their senior year and even remain in contact through freshman year in college to aid them in beginning stages of college life (Tough, “How Children Succeed” 159). OneGoal has three phases. The first is a year of intensive ACT prep, where teachers often help students increase their ACT score an average of 3 points. Next is the roadmap to college which is a guide from the middle of high school to the first day of college.
The final stage in the OneGoal program is helping students foster non-cognitive skills such as study skills, time management, and problem-solving skills (Tough, “How Children Succeed” 159-161). Nelson knew he and his teachers could never completely close the academic gap between their students and those who came from better education systems, but he thought that if they developed the five traits that he identified: resourcefulness, resilience, ambition, professionalism, and integrity, then they would be able to offset that difference (Tough, “How Children Succeed” 162). Per the OneGoal website, 82 percent of OneGoal students have been accepted to college and seventy-eight are still attending or have graduated (OneGoalgraduation.org).
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In another example of after-school programs, Constance P. Hargrave wrote of the G-STEM program or growing students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. It is a pre-college program designed specifically for African-American students to assist them in earning a technical degree. STEM positions are comprised of mainly Caucasians, and one of the goals of the G-STEM program is to diversify them dramatically. Only about 10 percent of STEM jobs are held by people of color (Hargrave 349). The STEM pipeline has three factors associated with students achieving future success in those fields: opportunity to access math and science learning experiences, achievement in those subjects, and the choice or interest. Students need to be encouraged before high school if they want to obtain a position in a STEM occupation in the future (Hargrave 349-350). G-STEM focuses on areas that are underserved and provides college visits, academic resources, development activities, and encouragement. Students are required to make a 5-year commitment to the program, maintain a 3.0 GPA, and attend at least 75 percent of the program's activities, or they are disqualified from G-STEM (Hargrave 351-352). Out of 293 students who attended the G-STEM program, 68 percent had completed or were participating in 2014. Of 185 students who had the opportunity to complete their 5-year commitment 49 percent did. But of the students who completed their commitment, 99 percent went on to a postsecondary institution of some sort. Of those students, 21 percent graduated, 57 percent were still attending, and 22 percent are no longer attending (Hargrave 352-353).
Children's character development cannot be obtained from parents alone. The qualities of character are enhanced by an interplay of school, community influence, child's individual temperament, family, church, experiences, and choices. Parents and teachers have plenty of opportunity and tools necessary for this task.
According to Paul, schools are believed to be the center of excellence and discipline to children. Schools need to be equipped with well-qualified tutors and mentors who through their useful skills will enhance the development of a good character in a child. Parents who practice the qualities of good character greatly transmit these values to their offspring by shaping the
I provided information on seemingly effective programs, but the analysis that was completed by Kremer et al has caused me to rethink my stance on the programs. Only one of the four programs reported an attrition rate and that was 51 percent. Another point is that of all the studies I found had positive results, and in the meta-analysis, the authors write of the publication bias. Could the reason my results were all positive be a reflection of that bias? And what about the selection bias which only includes conducting studies on programs that have positive results? As for the programs that are truly successful what is it about those programs that make them more effective than the ones that were not recorded?
This book has made me consider how and what I’m going to teach in the future. I will incorporate character-building activities into my classroom, but I won’t discriminate against students who lack them. It is unfair to assume that just because a child doesn’t have certain traits, means they won’t succeed because then self-serving bias kicks in and you start treating them differently and giving them bad grades when other kids with the same quality of work would score better.
Reference
Tough, P. (2012). How Children Succeed: Grit. Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character .
