Boosting Student Achievement: New Research on
the Power of Developmental Assets (October 2003, Volume 1, Number 1)

The Bottom Line:

New studies suggest that developmental assets play a significant role in students' academic achievement across a wide range of students. In fact, developmental assets appear to have as much or more influence on student achievement as other demographic factors and school reform strategies. Thus, building developmental assets has great promise as a strategy for boosting student achievement.

Students from many different backgrounds and cultures are more likely to do well in school and have a higher GPA if they have more “developmental assets,” according to new research from Search Institute.



Using data from several community-level studies, researchers found that middle and high school students who experienced more positive relationships, opportunities, and personal strengths—known as “developmental assets”—were more likely to have high GPAs, regardless of their family income level, family composition, or race-ethnicity. This relationship holds true in both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies.



“These new findings suggest that an emphasis on overall development may actually have as much or more positive impact on academic outcomes in the long run as more obvious and traditional strategies for boosting achievement,” write authors Peter C. Scales and Eugene C. Roehlkepartain. “Developmental assets may serve as a reminder that boosting student achievement is, yes, about achievement. But it is also about boosting students to be successful in their overall growth and development.”




The complete publication (PDF)

Reference:

Scales, Peter C., & Roehlkepartain, Eugene C. (2003). Boosting student achievement: New research on the power of developmental assets. Search Institute Insights & Evidence, 1 (1), 1-10