Learn and Serve America's National Service-Learning Clearinghouse

Source: RMC Research Corporation, May 2004.

The concept of resilience is based on the theory that particular traits or "protective factors" such as caring relationships and high expectations help strengthen people's ability to persist during adversity. This fact sheet discusses how service-learning programs that build in protective factors can also help build student's resiliency.

Researchers have found that resilience is an attribute that can be developed and fostered within an individual (Benard 1999). Schools, families, and communities can all take steps to build resilience in young people. The resiliency building process begins by focusing on underlying protective factors apparent in those who do not become involved in adverse situations. Protective factors are the characteristics within a person or the environment that serve as a defense during stressful life events.Milstein and Henry (2000) specified the following protective factors:

• Prosocial bonding;
• Clear and consistent boundaries;
• Life skills;
• Caring and support;
• High expectations; and
• Meaningful participation.

To build students' resilience, educators first should learn to develop their own resilience to model strengths and positive characteristics. Educators can do so by intentionally developing attitudes and skills related to each of the protective factors. Modeling alone, however, will not produce fully resilient young people. Educators can strengthen others' resiliency by helping individual students to become aware of and build upon their personal strengths.

Resiliency in the classroom or in the school is a key part of the academic culture; it encompasses your attitudes and interactions with students.For example, if educators are caring, students are likely to be more caring.If teachers and parents have high expectations, students are more likely to live up to the expectations.

Service-learning programs that build in protective factors can also help build students' resiliency.Helpful examples of resiliency frameworks used in schools are available on various Web sites.Use the following collection of the best resources to guide your research and practice.

Web resources

• Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
  http://ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/index.html
  Provides information on grants and funding, programs, and other publications and resources.
• Project Resilience
  http://www.projectresilience.com
  Offers products, materials, and services to those in education, treatment, and prevention. From the homepage, click on the link for publications and choose the following resource:  T. S. Bickart and S. Wolin. "Practicing Resilience in the Elementary Classroom." Principal 77, no. 2 (1997, November).
• Resiliency In Action
  http://www.resiliency.com/index.htm
  Offers products and information on resiliency, classes and presentations, and an interactive resiliency forum. From the homepage, click on the link to the article Benard, B.  "The Foundations of the Resiliency Framework: From Research to Practice." In Resiliency in Action: Practical Ideas for Overcoming Risks and Building Strengths in Youth, Families, and Communities. N. Henderson, N. Sharp-Light, and B. Benard eds., 1999.http://www.resiliency.com/htm/research.htm
• North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL) http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/leadrshp/le0win.htm
  Winfield, L. NCREL Monograph: Developing resilience in urban youth. North Central Regional Educational Laboratory's Urban Education Program,1994.

Print resources

• Benard, B. Fostering Resiliency in Kids: Protective Factors in the Family, Schools, and Community. San Francisco: WesternRegional Center forDrug-FreeSchools and Communities, 1991
• Henderson, N., and M. Milstein. Resiliency in Schools.Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 1996.
• Kraft, N., and J. Wheeler. "Service-Learning and Resilience in Disaffected Youth: A Research Study." In Deconstructing Service-Learning: Research Exploring Context, Participation, and Impacts, Shelley Billig and Janet Eyler, eds. Greenwich,CT: Information Age Publishing, 2003.
• Milstein, M., and D. Henry. Spreading Resiliency: Making it Happen for Schools and Communities. Thousand Oaks, CA:Corwin Press, 2000.
• Seligman, M. Learned Optimism. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1991.
• Waxman, H., J. Gray, and Y. Padron. Review of Research on Educational Resilience. Santa Cruz, CA:University ofCalifornia, Center for Research on Education, Diversity & Excellence, 2003.
• Wolin, S. J., and S. Wolin. The Resilient Self. New York: Villard Books, 1994.

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