Conscientiousness There was no significant difference between the RCSD group (M= 3.67, SD= .34) and non-RCSD (M= 3.64, SD= .42)

F (1, 30) = 1.12, NS

Resilience and Academic Success: From the Rochester City Schools to RIT

Renee A. Shaw and Dr. Kirsten Condry, Psychology

IntroductionThe RCSD is home to 23 high schools in Rochester, NY. Though these schools have the best intention of providing quality education, more than half of students fail to graduate. The graduation rate for the RCSD is an average of only 46% (YNN, 2012). Greece, Spencerport, and Brighton school districts have graduation rates that are always above the 90% mark. This makes Rochester home to the best and the worst school districts in New York State: the best being Pittsford and the worst being Rochester.

While the focus of research has primarily been on what has gone wrong with those who did not complete high school, my question in this study is what went right for those students who were able to graduate. What is it, that these students have or do that sets them apart from their failing peers?

Hypotheses:

Measures of resilience will be higher in students from the Rochester City School District

Measures of conscientiousness will be higher in students from the Rochester City School District

Levels of resilience will negatively correlate with high school graduation rates for all students.

ResultsResilienceThere was a significant difference between RIT students from the RCSD (M= 143.65, SD= 17.17) and Non-RCSD students at RIT (M= 129.71, SD= 16.97)

F (1, 30) = 5.11, p = .032

Demographic questions What high school did you attend? What year did you graduate?

Used to calculate High School Graduation Rate

Age, sex, year levelOpen ended questions:

Who was the most influential person to your academic success in high school?

MethodsParticipantsRIT students (n= 31)female= 18 Mean age =20.87 years (range 18-24 years)

Recruited from on campus academic groups that work closely with RIT RCSD students such as the Multicultural Center for Academic Success, The Northstar Center, and the Higher Education Opportunity Program, and the RIT City Scholars program ; as well as from Psychology courses.

Resilience Scale – Example questions :

Big Five Inventory – Example questions :

AbstractThis study looked at the presence of resilience and conscientiousness in RIT students. I compared those who graduated from the Rochester City School District (RCSD) to students from other districts. Students were surveyed using the Resilience Scale by Wagnild and Young (1993) to measure resilience and the Big Five Inventory by John and Srivastava (1999) to measure conscientiousness. My hypotheses were (1) levels of resilience and conscientiousness will be higher in students from the RCSD. (2) Levels of resilience will negatively correlate with graduation rates of all students. Results showed that there was a significant difference in levels of resilience with RCSD students showing higher levels of resilience. There was no significant difference is levels of conscientiousness. There was no correlation between levels of resilience and graduation rate. Results of this study provided insight on how the few students who have been successful managed to do so and how others can mimic that success.

DiscussionThis study showed there was a significant difference in measures of resilience.

There was no significant difference in measures of conscientiousness

Graduation rate of high school did not correlate with meausres of conscientiousness rate or resilience

LimitationsThe primary limitation would be the small sample size of participants. I believe that with a larger sample the significance of my results would be amplified.

Participants were recruited through emails sent out by on campus organizations that catered to the targeted sample. The emails however did not yield a significant number of responses, mainly because they were sent over the summer when many students may not have been actively checking their email.

Data collection Graduation rates Non-completers

ObservationsResilience is something that is said to be constantly evolving within each person. Even though the RCSD students in this study may have came from a tough environemnt, the resilience that allowed them to graduate could have lessened after being removed from that environment.

Since my entire sample was made up of college students it makes sense that there would be similar outcomes of resilience and conscientiousness regardless of their high school’s district.

It was assumed that a schools graduation rate was an indicator of their environment or quality of education. Many factors that do not affect resilience or conscientiousness can affect graduation rates. (funding, school size, or curriculum)Future ResearchUsing Current RCSD students as the sample would show more clearly how resilience plays a role in those students' academic success. (On track vs. Late graduate vs. Dropping out)ImplicationsThere are a number of resilience building tools available that can be used in an academic setting. The resilience builder program designed by Dr. Mary Karapetian Alvord, Dr. Bonnie Zucker and Dr. Judy Johnson Grados is a cognitive-behavioral approach designed for overall well-being. It consists of 30 group sessions aimed at helping youth bounce back from adversities in their lives, build self-esteem, competency, self-control and the use of effective coping skills. This tool and others like it can be implemented into community outreach programs, school counseling methods and the school curriculum.

ConclusionIn general the goal of this study was to discover what attributes a student, going to school in an unsatisfactory environment, had to posess in order to succeed by graduating. I looked at character traits that I knew were linked to academic performance and flourishing under distress. What I found was that RCSD students tend to have slightly higher measures of resilience but not conscientiousness. Conscientiousness is an indicator of high academic performance but it is not needed. A student who tends to be disorganized or lazy can still be an excellent student.

CorrelationThe results showed no significant correlations among variables: resilience and graduation rate were not at all correlated, r(29) = -.077, p = .68

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References John, O. P., & Srivastava, S. (1999). The Big-Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In L. A. Pervin & O. P. John (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (Vol. 2, pp. 102–138). New York: Guilford Press. Wagnild GM, Young HM. 1993. Development and psychometric validation of the Resilience Scale. J Nurs Meas 1:165–178.YNN. (2012, June 11). RCSD's graduation rate drops. Retrieved from http://rochester.ynn.com/content/top_stories/587765/rcsd-s-graduation-rate-drops

AbstractThis study looked at the presence of resilience and conscientiousness in RIT students. I compared those who have graduated from the Rochester City School District (RCSD) to students from other districts. Students will be surveyed using the Resilience Scale by Wagnild and Young (1993) to measure resilience and the Big Five Inventory by John and Srivastava (1999) to measure conscientiousness. My hypotheses are (1) levels of resilience and conscientiousness will be higher in students from the RCSD. (2) Levels of resilience will negatively correlate with graduation rates of all students. Results of this study will provide insight on how the few students who have been successful managed to do so and how others can mimic that success. Change to past tense (for whole paragraph), and include a sentence or two at the end about how the results came out

Introduction

The RCSD is home to 23 high schools in Rochester, NY. Though these schools have the best intention of providing quality education, more than half of students fail to graduate. The graduation rate for the RCSD is an average of only 46% (YNN, 2012). Greece, Spencerport, and Brighton school districts have graduation rates that are always above the 90% mark. This makes Rochester home to the best and the worst school districts in New York State: the best being Pittsford and the worst being Rochester.

While the focus of research has primarily been on what has gone wrong with those who did not complete high school, my question in this study is what went right for those students who were able to graduate. What is it, that these students have or do that sets them apart from their failing peers?

Hypotheses:

1) levels of resilience and conscientiousness will be higher in students from the RCSD than schools with higher graduation rates

2) Levels of resilience will negatively correlate with high school graduation rates for all students.

MethodsParticipants

• RIT students (n= 31)– female= 18

• Mean age =20.87 years (range 18-24 years)• Recruited from on campus academic groups that

work closely with RIT RCSD students such as the Multicultural Center for Academic Success, The Northstar Center, and the Higher Education Opportunity Program, and the RIT City Scholars Program; as well as from Psychology courses.

Measures

• Demographic questions– What high school did you attend?

– What year did you graduate?

• Used to calculate High School Graduation Rate

– Age, sex, year level

• Open ended questions:– Who was the most influential person to your

academic success in high school?

Resilience scale

Example questions:

Big Five Inventory

Example questions:

Results

Source DF Adj SS Adj MS F-Value P-Value

RCSD=1, Non RCSD=2 1 1490 1490.4 5.11 0.032*

Error 29 8463 291.8

Total 30 9953

Note. N=31. Unequal N analysis of variance was performed. *p < .05