Academic Tenacity

Academic tenacity is the term used for the collection of non-cognitive factors that promote long-term learning and achievement. The program at Mabuhay Mathematics is designed to foster academic tenacity among all students. I encourage a growth mindset over a fixed one (see below) so that students know that success is accessible to them and that they have the potential to achieve. Success is celebrated with all students to foster the sense of self-efficacy. I can also provide advice on how to interact with teachers and professors, in case it’s confusing or intimidating!

Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset
People with a growth mindset believe that every individual’s ability to achieve is dynamic. Intelligence is not fixed, but changes (for better or for worse) over time. Further, our behaviors, not our past, determines the future. When students have a growth mindset, they more readily believe that they can improve on their current abilities, which promotes academic tenacity and healthy scholastic attitudes.

Students with a fixed mindset, on the other hand, tend to be increasingly concerned with proving their abilities rather than improving them, which can actually hinder performance and strain mental health. Students with a growth mindset tend to have a more constructive and balanced response to both success and failure than those with a fixed mindset.

Learning vs. Performance Goals
We’ll help your student implement a systematic approach to setting and reaching goals that prioritizes learning goals. Many are more familiar with performance goals (like getting an A on a test) than learning goals (like mastering algebraic graph transformations). Setting goals in this way encourages students to think directly about the content that they need to master and develops academic tenacity. Achievement of learning goals will more reliably lead to high performance than setting performance goals, alone.

Ready to start experiencing mathematical and statistical success?  You can schedule a session right away!