Quarterly Journal of Economics Vol. 134 No. 3 2019
Ever Failed, Try Again, Succeed Better: Results from a Randomized Educational Intervention on Grit
Abstract
We show that grit, a skill that has been shown to be highly predictive of achievement, is malleable in childhood and can be fostered in the classroom environment. We evaluate a randomized educational intervention implemented in two independent elementary school samples. Outcomes are measured via a novel incentivized real-effort task and performance in standardized tests. We find that treated students are more likely to exert effort to accumulate task-specific ability and hence more likely to succeed. In a follow up 2.5 years after the intervention, we estimate an effect of about 0.2 standard deviations on a standardized math test.
- DOI
- 10.1093/qje/qjz006
- Volume
- 134
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 1121-1162
- Language
- en
- Sources
- bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref