Academic Tenacity: Mindsets and Skills That Promote Long Term Learning

This summer, we had a chance to visit Lindsay Unified School District, in the California, where the students—almost all from low-income families and more than half English language learners—are taking ownership of their learning and seeing improvements: graduation rates are on the rise.

Just as teachers are the experts on learning, parents are the experts when it comes to their children. And just as teachers need access to high-quality tools, so too do parents. That’s the mission of Learning Heroes—to inform parents about what’s happening in classrooms and equip them to support their children’s academic success.

Over the past two years, educators at Windy Hill Middle School in Clermont, Florida have been transforming their teaching, tailoring instruction to students’ individual needs and interests. Students have been using new tools to learn content at their own pace and taking ownership of their learning in the process.