Performance Character and Academic Achievement

The current buzz word in education is grit. Everyone is talking about grit. Angela Duckworth popularized the topic and has even provided a test to determine your grit score. How much grit do you have?

Why such a change in educational focus? It is simple — we have discovered that the greatest determining factor of future success for a child and student may not be the GPA but rather their Performance Character traits.

An increasing body of research in education indicates that Performance Character traits are a better predictor of success in life than any of the academic scores.

This does not undermine or lessen the importance of achieving academic success. In fact, it supports that assumption. Students who have Performance Character traits such as grit, focus/self-control, and integrity, will look to achieve academically as well as psychologically, socially, and physically.

Schools and academic scholars are finding that teaching Performance Character traits can influence the success of academic achievement. Performance Character traits can be taught and, more importantly, they can be learned. Just like a student can learn history or science, they can learn how to have grit, social intelligence, and leadership. Additionally, if the importance of teaching Performance Character traits can be brought into the home, the chances of success increase significantly.

That is why Athlos Academies puts an emphasis on a powerful Performance Character program and on teaching 12 Performance Character traits. Ask any teacher that is teaching school why they decided on their career path. They are not going to tell you that it was for the money. They likely won’t tell you it was because they wanted to produce the greatest historians or mathematicians. They are going to tell you it is because they want to make a difference in the life of the students. That difference really is improving that student’s Performance Character traits and opportunities for success in life.

“You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.”

— James A. Froude

By: Kelly Shaw