National Journal

As fed­er­al and state edu­ca­tion­al policies have shif­ted to re­ly­ing on stand­ard­ized test­ing and oth­er meas­ure­ments to as­sess young people’s suc­cess, many par­ents, edu­cat­ors, and poli­cy­makers are push­ing back, find­ing that what’s be­ing meas­ured can­not fully ac­count for what young people need to suc­ceed.

For some re­search­ers, this has trans­lated in­to look­ing at the in­flu­ence of non­aca­dem­ic skills—vari­ously de­scribed as emo­tion­al in­tel­li­gence, self-con­trol, or the catchy “grit.” But one big chal­lenge has been agree­ing on what is be­ing de­scribed, as well as what in­ter­ven­tions can best help make a child well-roun­ded, re­si­li­ent, and cap­able in­to adult­hood...