Now some schools are testing kids for their ‘grit’ and ‘joy’ levels. Really. - The Washington Post

Now some schools are testing kids for their ‘grit’ and ‘joy’ levels. Really. - The Washington Post:

Now some schools are testing kids for their ‘grit’ and ‘joy’ levels. Really.

Tony Roddy talks to members of the Joliet Boys and Girls Club about his walk across the United States during a presentation in Joliet, Ill. (Lathan Goumas/The Herald-News via AP)

 In 2012, I published a post with this headline, “Sick of grit already.” Here it is 2016, and not only has “grit” become one of the watchwords in the education reform debate, but now some powers that be think they can teach it, measure it and test it.

Despite the fact that there is no consensus definition on how to do any of those things, the U.S. government, in 2017, is going to start collecting collecting data from students about their individual “grit” levels by asking those who take the National Assessment of Educational Progress to rate their own level of grit. Also their “desire for learning.”

And now, as this New York Times story says, schools are trying to find ways to measure and test grit, joy and other non-academic attributes. It says in part:

 …starting this year, several California school districts will test students on how well they have learned the kind of skills like self-control and conscientiousness that the games aim to cultivate — ones that might be described as everything you should have learned in kindergarten but are still reading self-help books to master in middle age.

A recent update to federal education law requires states to include at least one nonacademic measure in judging school performance. So other states are watching these districts as a potential model. But the race to test for so-called social-emotional skills has 

Now some schools are testing kids for their ‘grit’ and ‘joy’ levels. Really. - The Washington Post: