Children living in poverty often just have one chance in life to reach their full potential; that is, through a good school that provides them with the opportunity to succeed. This project examines academic resilience of disadvantaged students who succeed in school despite the odds against them. It will bring together a team of scholars with diverse methodological and substantive expertise to (1) measure academic resilience, (2) identify the trends in the proportions of academically resilient students and (3) examine the main factors contributing to academic resilience at the student, classroom and school levels. This project combines cutting-edge research on resilience in psychology and sociology with the development of large-scale assessments in education and data mining in computer science. It seeks to address previously inaccessible substantive research questions by applying novel methodological innovations in these fields.

Findings from this project may offer direct implications for educational policy and practice aimed at enhancing equity and quality in education. Closing achievement gaps between students from high- and low-income families not only benefits individuals but also advances equity, sustainability and social justice in the larger society.