Date of Award

Fall 12-9-2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Education

First Advisor

Dr. Kathy Grover

Second Advisor

Dr. J. Anderson

Third Advisor

Dr. Brady Quirk

Abstract

In the absence of high quality and impact interventions, undesirable consequences of poverty will be seen to fruition. In this study, the Golden Circle business model (Sinek et al., 2017) served as the framework to understand how students’ grit, engagement, and achievement are related in Title I elementary schools. The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a relationship between grit and engagement, engagement and student achievement, and finally grit and student achievement. The relationship between grit and engagement was measured by teacher and student perceptions, respectively. Student engagement and achievement were analyzed using student self-perceptions of the level of engagement and individual achievement results in math and reading. Finally, the relationship between grit and student achievement was measured by reading and mathematics academic achievement results and teachers’ perceptions of students’ educational engagement. Correlation provides insight into the behavior of pairs of variables (i.e., teachers’ perceptions, students’ perceptions, and academic achievement). Data collected and analyzed revealed no strong correlation between grit, engagement, and academic achievement. Moderate correlations were revealed between teachers’ perceptions regarding their ability to change their students’ ability to achieve in math. Additionally, moderate correlations were discovered between students’ perceptions of their ability to affect their perseverance (grit) in reading.

Rights

Copyright 2020

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