1. Conscientiousness

There was no significant difference between the RCSD
group (M= 3.67, SD= .34) and non-RCSD (M= 3.64, SD=
.42)
F (1, 30) = 1.12, NS
Resilience and Academic Success:
From the Rochester City Schools to RIT
Renee A. Shaw and Dr. Kirsten Condry, Psychology
Resilience and Academic Success:
From the Rochester City Schools to RIT
Renee A. Shaw and Dr. Kirsten Condry, Psychology
Introduction
The RCSD is home to 23 high schools in Rochester, NY. Though
these schools have the best intention of providing quality
education, more than half of students fail to graduate. The
graduation rate for the RCSD is an average of only 46% (YNN,
2012). Greece, Spencerport, and Brighton school districts have
graduation rates that are always above the 90% mark. This
makes Rochester home to the best and the worst school
districts in New York State: the best being Pittsford and the
worst being Rochester.
While the focus of research has primarily been on what has
gone wrong with those who did not complete high school, my
question in this study is what went right for those students
who were able to graduate. What is it, that these students
have or do that sets them apart from their failing peers?
Hypotheses:

Measures of resilience will be higher in students from the
Rochester City School District

Measures of conscientiousness will be higher in students
from the Rochester City School District

Levels of resilience will negatively correlate with high school
graduation rates for all students.
Results
Resilience

There was a significant difference between RIT students
from the RCSD (M= 143.65, SD= 17.17) and Non-RCSD
students at RIT (M= 129.71, SD= 16.97)
F (1, 30) = 5.11, p = .032

Demographic questions

What high school did you attend?

What year did you graduate?

Used to calculate High School Graduation
Rate

Age, sex, year level

Open ended questions:

Who was the most influential person to your
academic success in high school?
Methods
Participants

RIT students (n= 31)

female= 18

Mean age =20.87 years (range 18-24 years)

Recruited from on campus academic groups that work closely
with RIT RCSD students such as the Multicultural Center for
Academic Success, The Northstar Center, and the Higher
Education Opportunity Program, and the RIT City Scholars
program ; as well as from Psychology courses.
Resilience Scale – Example questions :
Big Five Inventory – Example questions :
Abstract
This study looked at the presence of resilience and conscientiousness in
RIT students. I compared those who graduated from the Rochester City
School District (RCSD) to students from other districts. Students were
surveyed using the Resilience Scale by Wagnild and Young (1993) to
measure resilience and the Big Five Inventory by John and Srivastava
(1999) to measure conscientiousness. My hypotheses were (1) levels of
resilience and conscientiousness will be higher in students from the RCSD.
(2) Levels of resilience will negatively correlate with graduation rates of
all students. Results showed that there was a significant difference in
levels of resilience with RCSD students showing higher levels of resilience.
There was no significant difference is levels of conscientiousness. There
was no correlation between levels of resilience and graduation rate.
Results of this study provided insight on how the few students who have
been successful managed to do so and how others can mimic that
success.
Discussion

This study showed there was a significant difference in measures of
resilience.

There was no significant difference in measures of
conscientiousness

Graduation rate of high school did not correlate with meausres of
conscientiousness rate or resilience
Limitations

The primary limitation would be the small sample size of
participants. I believe that with a larger sample the significance of
my results would be amplified.

Participants were recruited through emails sent out by on campus
organizations that catered to the targeted sample. The emails
however did not yield a significant number of responses, mainly
because they were sent over the summer when many students may
not have been actively checking their email.

Data collection

Graduation rates

Non-completers
Observations

Resilience is something that is said to be constantly evolving within
each person. Even though the RCSD students in this study may
have came from a tough environemnt, the resilience that allowed
them to graduate could have lessened after being removed from
that environment.

Since my entire sample was made up of college students it makes
sense that there would be similar outcomes of resilience and
conscientiousness regardless of their high school’s district.

It was assumed that a schools graduation rate was an indicator of
their environment or quality of education. Many factors that do not
affect resilience or conscientiousness can affect graduation rates.
(funding, school size, or curriculum)
Future Research

Using Current RCSD students as the sample would show more
clearly how resilience plays a role in those students' academic
success. (On track vs. Late graduate vs. Dropping out)
Implications

There are a number of resilience building tools available that can
be used in an academic setting. The resilience builder program
designed by Dr. Mary Karapetian Alvord, Dr. Bonnie Zucker and Dr.
Judy Johnson Grados is a cognitive-behavioral approach designed
for overall well-being. It consists of 30 group sessions aimed at
helping youth bounce back from adversities in their lives, build self-
esteem, competency, self-control and the use of effective coping
skills. This tool and others like it can be implemented into
community outreach programs, school counseling methods and the
school curriculum.
Conclusion

In general the goal of this study was to discover what attributes a
student, going to school in an unsatisfactory environment, had to
posess in order to succeed by graduating. I looked at character traits
that I knew were linked to academic performance and flourishing
under distress. What I found was that RCSD students tend to have
slightly higher measures of resilience but not conscientiousness.
Conscientiousness is an indicator of high academic performance but
it is not needed. A student who tends to be disorganized or lazy can
still be an excellent student.
Correlation

The results showed no significant correlations among
variables: resilience and graduation rate were not at all
correlated, r(29) = -.077, p = .68
21
4.6
4.4
4.2
4.0
3.8
3.6
3.4
3.2
3.0
School district
conscientiousness
Boxplot of conscientiousness
1009080706050403020
180
170
160
150
140
130
120
110
100
90
S 18.4709
R-Sq 0.6%
R-Sq(adj) 0.0%
graduation rate
resilience
Fitted Line Plot
resilience = 141.8 - 0.0599 graduation rate
References
John, O. P., & Srivastava, S. (1999). The Big-Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In L. A. Pervin & O. P. John (Eds.),
Handbook of personality: Theory and research (Vol. 2, pp. 102–138). New York: Guilford Press.
Wagnild GM, Young HM. 1993. Development and psychometric validation of the Resilience Scale. J Nurs Meas 1:165–178.
YNN. (2012, June 11). RCSD's graduation rate drops. Retrieved from http://rochester.ynn.com/content/top_stories/587765/rcsd-s-graduation-rate-drops

2. Abstract
This study looked at the presence of resilience and
conscientiousness in RIT students. I compared those who have
graduated from the Rochester City School District (RCSD) to
students from other districts. Students will be surveyed using
the Resilience Scale by Wagnild and Young (1993) to measure
resilience and the Big Five Inventory by John and Srivastava
(1999) to measure conscientiousness. My hypotheses are (1)
levels of resilience and conscientiousness will be higher in
students from the RCSD. (2) Levels of resilience will negatively
correlate with graduation rates of all students. Results of this
study will provide insight on how the few students who have
been successful managed to do so and how others can mimic
that success. Change to past tense (for whole paragraph), and
include a sentence or two at the end about how the results
came out

3. Introduction
The RCSD is home to 23 high schools in Rochester, NY.
Though these schools have the best intention of
providing quality education, more than half of students
fail to graduate. The graduation rate for the RCSD is an
average of only 46% (YNN, 2012). Greece, Spencerport,
and Brighton school districts have graduation rates that
are always above the 90% mark. This makes Rochester
home to the best and the worst school districts in New
York State: the best being Pittsford and the worst being
Rochester.

4. While the focus of research has primarily been on what
has gone wrong with those who did not complete
high school, my question in this study is what went
right for those students who were able to graduate.
What is it, that these students have or do that sets
them apart from their failing peers?
Hypotheses:
1) levels of resilience and conscientiousness will be
higher in students from the RCSD than schools with
higher graduation rates
2) Levels of resilience will negatively correlate with
high school graduation rates for all students.

5. Methods
Participants
•
RIT students (n= 31)
–
female= 18
•
Mean age =20.87 years (range 18-24 years)
•
Recruited from on campus academic groups that
work closely with RIT RCSD students such as the
Multicultural Center for Academic Success, The
Northstar Center, and the Higher Education
Opportunity Program, and the RIT City Scholars
Program; as well as from Psychology courses.

6. Measures
•
Demographic questions
–
What high school did you attend?
–
What year did you graduate?
• Used to calculate High School Graduation Rate
–
Age, sex, year level
•
Open ended questions:
–
Who was the most influential person to your
academic success in high school?

7. Resilience scale
Example questions:

8. Big Five Inventory
Example questions:

9. Results

10. Source DF Adj SS Adj MS F-Value P-Value
RCSD=1, Non RCSD=2
1 1490 1490.4 5.11 0.032*
Error 29 8463 291.8
Total 30 9953
Note. N=31. Unequal N analysis of variance was performed. *p < .05