I recently blogged a new study by economist Henry Levin about the crucial importance of non-cognitive skills.
What matters most? Persistence, motivation, reliability, team work, the ability to work well with others, communication skills.
Levin cites Nobelist James Heckman, who said that parents read “The Tortoise and the Hare” and “The Little Engine That Could” to teach these lessons to their children.
How many really smart people fail in life because they lacked persistence and motivation?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
But these skills have meaning only in context, often an intellectual or artistic context. And they require counterbalances..
Working with others ON something important or interesting is profoundly different from performing some silly activity in a group because someone decided it was time to practice teamwork skills.
If you play ina quartet, for instance, you need to do a lot of the work on your own. Then, when you come together with the others to practice, you’re comparing the sound of the ensemble to what the piece is and can be. You figure out where the weaknesses lie and what you need to do to shape the performance. So the work of the quartet is closeky connected to the members’ solitary work and to the music itself.
Something similar applies to motivaton. One cannot be motivated in all directions. One is motivated to do certain things because of what they are and the rewards they hold. A mathematician is motivated to work on math problems because he or she is fascinated by them and committed to working on them. (A sense of rssponsibility has something to do with motivation.) The same person might not be motivated to solve a crossword puzzle.
“Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.
Here is an article by Valerie Strauss where a cognitive scientist explains why kids hate school:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/why-kids-hate-school–subject-by-subject/2012/09/06/0bf1acc4-f5d6-11e1-8398-0327ab83ab91_blog.html
Thanks for links to the articles, Diane and mathcs… I’ve learned a lot because of this blog.
I always tell my senior students, as they worry about their sat scores, test score are not indicators of success, college or otherwise. What is an indicator is work ethic, responsibility, personality and drive. Successful students don’t always get the best grades on exams but they plug along doing what is asked of them. Most teachers would rather fill their classrooms with those persistent students.
Diane,
I was glad to see the research by Henry Levin which supported the value of Non-Cognitive Skills. Teaching these skills is the focus of the college success courses we offer at Austin Community College. Several high schools in Texas are also starting to offer similar courses to their students.
I agree that Non-Cognitive Skills are difficult to measure by using standardized tests. I recently wrote an article related to this subject and I attached a copy for you.
Best regards,
Raymond Gerson
I get hundreds of emails daily. Would you resend?
Diane, sorry I just saw your request for me to resend the article I mentioned. Here is the link: http://archive.aweber.com/collegsuccessev/98vUo/t/Non_Cognitive_Skills_and.htm