Optimizing student success in school with the other three Rs : reasoning, resilience, and responsibility

Abstract

Despite increased spending and efforts at reform since the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, wide achievement gaps persist between groups of students and these gaps increase with each year of schooling. Obstacles to student achievement can be found in schools and at home, and finding innovative solutions for students to overcome these obstacles is a motivating force behind this volume. Inside, the authors argue that Other Three Rs, reasoning, resilience, and responsibility can promote achievement and the realization of full academic potential, especially for students who are labeled as under performers. The Other Three Rs (TOTRs) are universal learning skills available to all students. Although each of TOTRs is related to school and life success, they are most effective when they are used in combination. For example, in the course problem solving, reasoning skills offer the ability to judge which strategies best address the needs of a particular situation. Responsibility provides understanding of the consequences (for oneself and others) of employing or not employing different problem solving strategies, and taking ownership of the results. And resilience produces the patience to work through the problem solving process, by capitalizing on lessons learned, until achieving desired outcomes. Other Three R's model began as an American Psychological Association (APA) initiative, sponsored by Robert J. Sternberg, IBM Professor of Psychology and Education at Yale University and Past President of the APA. For the initiative and this edited volume, Sternberg and Subotnickassembled a diverse team of experts who identified reasoning, resilience and responsibility as three learnable skills that, when taken together, have great potential for increasing academic success. authors of this volume present in detail their evidence- based arguments for promoting TOTRs in schools as a way to optimize student success

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