STUDENT RESILIENCY: The Role of Elementary Schools

The study investigated the relationship between resiliency and achievement in elementary students. It employed the student resiliency survey used by the Iowa Department of Education in a state-wide initiative implemented by the Institute for Character Development at Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa. This study correlates resiliency with various types of student achievement and assessment data including standardized test information, classroom grades, and student perceptions of achievement. Data for this longitudinal study spanned fourth through sixth grade and included 828 elementary students from an urban setting. It involved student participants from nine different elementary school buildings in the city. Various demographic and school variables were used in this study to determine whether they played a role in achievement and the presence of factors of resiliency. A significant but weak correlation between resiliency and grade point average (as determined by mean of final grades received in 12 fifth grade subjects) was found in the analysis of the data.