, 2008; Bryan, 2005; Downey, 2008). By creating more effective environments and specifically crafted interactions with students, both individual and population-wide levels of academic resilience and academic buoyancy -- and thus eventual academic progress and success -- can be dramatically enhanced and increased. A variety of extracurricular activities have been identified as having a positive impact on academic resilience, and in fact this effect is so broad that researchers suggest it is the structure of the activity rather than the activity itself that promotes evidence of academic resilience and certain skills identified with academic buoyancy (Peck et al., 2008; Martin & Marsh, 2009). The experiences, relationships, and responsibilities of extracurricular activities differ in significant ways from those related to standard academic progress, and it is believed that these lead to positive changes in the personal and psychological development of adolescents that in turn influences educational choices and behaviors (Peck et al., 2008). Simply creating more opportunities for participation in school and/or academic events and programs has been observed to have an institution-wide effect on academic resilience, and creating classroom environments that foster communication both between students and teachers and amongst students themselves have been noted to have similar effects (Brooks, 2010; Downey 2008). Providing greater access to counselors and other adult support figures is more resource intensive than these other options, however it is also a fairly high-impact and low-cost method of enhancing resilience (Bryan, 2005).

Individual Relationships and Development

In addition to institutional changes and features that can be used to enhance the level of academic resilience displayed by a given student body, there are issues of individual growth, development, and relationship formation that directly impact academic buoyancy as well academic resilience (Bryan, 2005; Brackenreed, 2010; Downey, 2008; Martin & Marsh, 2009). On a fundamental and extrinsic level, students that lack knowledge or experience using certain basic skills are placed at an extreme disadvantage, and the development of individual cognitive abilities can lead to profound levels of evidenced academic resilience as new doors of learning and understanding are opened (Downey, 2008). School counselors can also play a key role in...

Forming more effective and more caring relationships overall is an excellent and proven way to facilitate higher levels of academic resilience and buoyancy (Brooks, 2010; Martin & Marsh, 2009).
Conclusion

Developing a proper framework for understanding academic resilience, establishing institutional changes that can be made to enhance such resilience, and engaging in personal and individualized relationships with learners are all ways to improve long-term academic success for disadvantaged learners. While creating a system wherein the vast majority of learners succeed from the outset would of course be ideal and preferable to a system that promotes resilience, this is a far more arduous, complex, and uncertain task for reasons of practicality and of politics. Using the tools and knowledge available to promote learning as best as possible requires a focus on academic resilience.

References

Brackenreed, D. (2010). Resilience and Risk. International Education Studies 3(3): 111-21.

Brooks, J. (2010). School characteristics associated with the educational resilience of low-income and ethnic minority youth. Doctoral dissertation, University of Texas at Austin. Accessed 29 February 2012. http://repositories.tdl.org/tdl-ir/handle/2152/ETD-UT-2010-12-2176

Bryan, J. (2005). Fostering Educational Resilience and Achievement in Urban Schools Through School-Family- Community Partnerships. Professional School Counseling 8(3): 219-27.

Downey, J. (2008). Recommendations for Fostering Educational Resilience in the Classroom. Preventing School Failure 53(1): 56-64.

Martin, a. & Marsh, H. (2009). Academic resilience and academic buoyancy: multidimensional and hierarchical conceptual framing of causes, correlates and cognate constructs. Oxford Review of Education 35(3): 353-70.

Peck, S., Roeser, R., Zarrett, N. & Eccles, J. (2008). Exploring the Roles of Extracurricular Activity Quantity and Quality in the Educational Resilience of Vulnerable…