Reinforcing Effort

Denise Burson
Mar 08, 2010

Research (Covington 1983 and Hartner 1980) has shown that recognizing effort ultimately pays off in the enhancement of achievement. People generally attribute success to ability, other people, and luck as well. However, these beliefs inhibit, instead of enhance achievement.

Three generalizations have been drawn on the effects of reinforcing effort on student achievement:

1. Most students are not aware of the importance of believing that their level of effort is related to their achievement. (Seligman, 1990, 1994; Urdan, Migley, and Anderman, 1998).

2. Student achievement can increase when teachers show the relationship between an increase in effort to an increase in success (Craske, 1985; Van Overwalle and De Metsenaere, 1990).

3. Students can learn to change their beliefs to an emphasis on effort.

Implementation:

1. Teach the relationship between effort and achievement. The Chicken Soup Series is an excellent resource of stories. Use examples from the well-known people as well as the unknown so students recognize success in all situations and under many situations. Encourage students to think about: "What does effort look like?"

2. Recognize effort. Students who are recognized for effort will make the connection between effort and improvement.

3. Provide a visual representation of effort. (effort log)

4. Create a class effort rubric. A class that shares a common definition for effort will also share the understanding of effort and achievement.

5. Recognize individual students for personal progress. Winning usually indicates that others have lost, or are "below the winner." When students have personal goals, or reach pre-determined standards of excellence, recognition is for personal achievement, which is unique to each student.

6. Make clear the real goal of effort. "The harder you try, the more successful you are" is what the act of recognition should communicate to students, not "the harder you try, the more prizes you get." Make this clear to students and apply it in practice.

Additional Resources

Dr. Mel Levine publishes All Kinds of Minds - A Web site resource for educators. He shares ideas for recognizing effort of students, and how to support learning differences. http://www.allkindsofminds.org/activity.aspx?id=12