3 Key Principles That Keep Startup Businesses From Failing

Very often in my Startup Business Mastery Workshops, I get asked by young entrepreneurs to advice on what I consider the three key principles they could practice to keep their new businesses from failing. After sharing these ideas with many, I thought that it would be useful to share them with you to with your startup.Starting a new business is adventurous and according to statistics, about 80% of new businesses fail within the first two years. Notwithstanding, 90% of businesses started by people who know what they are doing to sustain their businesses, are still growing five years after.This note is meant to give you the key drivers that influence the success of the 90% of those startup businesses that succeed? It is important to bear in mind that successful people are not smarter than you; they are just ordinary people like who have discovered how to do what they are doing better than their competitors.If you have done everything that is crucial to start a business, it is now time for you to live by the following three principles if you must succeed.1. Be CourageousSuccessful business people are intensely courageous in their ability to take risk with their time and money. Look at it this way; a client of mine had just started his new business and everything (business name, website, good service, etc) was just ready to go. My client was not brave enough to invest in advertisement and other means of marketing promotions to get his business out to his potential customers.My client was afraid that, typical of advertisement and other business promotions, there is no guarantee that a particular medium (newspaper, magazine, Pay-Per-Click (PPC), or Search Engine Optimization (SEO)) would automatically pull in the required sales. So he began to play it safe rather than doing what was needful.Would you be better off not advertising and take your start up business ideas for granted? No! You must have the courage to invest anyway, hoping and believing that it would work for you.As business coach, my job is to help my clients to develop customized business strategies that spell out the critical steps and actions to take every single day to achieve their business goals faster. To be successful at this means that my clients must muster enough courage and discipline to implement the agreed strategic actions consistently until the results they expect shows up.The 80% of people that quit their business ideas often discover that they became discouraged very quickly about the unusual long hours and unending problems that successful start up business owners go through. This should not be your case.2. Determination (Persistence)Persistence is the foundation of any business. Successful startups work hard, hard, hard, and they focus on the most important areas of their businesses long enough to achieve their goals. You must determine in your mind to work hard and take the necessary steps to do what is most important for you to be successful.When I work with clients, one of the very roles I play is to help to clarify their visions for starting a new business. We spend time to understand their “WHYs”, the key drivers for starting the business and where they want to take their new business. This is crucial because, until you understand what is driving you into business, you may not appreciate the extent of involvement and sacrifice required you are required to make to become successful.Determination also means that you must love your business and the products and services you are offering your customers. You must be passionate to share them with your prospective customers.In the business of sports, it is often said that the time athletes, footballers, wrestlers and other sports people push really hard is when they are on the edge and hurting, when they’re most tired. Likewise in running a conventional business, persistence keeps you moving constantly forward and upward across the numerous obstacles and challenges you would normally encounter until you succeed. This is what happens with success, many times it comes when you are at the edge of giving up, when you had little or no breathe to push through.3. Be PatientIf you are starting a new business, it takes an average of four to seven (4 -7) years of consistent hard work to become successful. The lesson to learn here is that success does not happen overnight. You have to be on the road long enough to master the trends and be able to see the patterns you are looking for. What keeps you long on that road is patience.As in farming, you must understand the three fundamental stages of sowing, cultivating, and harvesting. These three stages are natural and successful start up business observes them.After you have done everything else to startup your new business, (as in planting the seed), you must obey the natural law of cultivation, a process that is hard to explain except to say that it is a waiting period. You cannot jump from planting to harvesting; that would be tantamount to treating your new business as gambling; a process that looks for the easy way out.Successful business people understand that the cultivation period is outside their control, and the best way to deal with anything that is outside someone’s control is to treat it patiently and calmly.It may be true that you have taken reasonable steps to start up. Also, you may have invested in some of the best business building tools, and now the first three months have gone by with no customer knocking on your door. Another six months have gone past, yet nothing has happened instead, anxiety, doubts and worry are building up; don’t despair. Be patient, as long as you are doing the right things, you will make it.

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Automotive Advertising Agencies Monetize Social Networking by Integrating it Into Real World Process

The world wide web has replaced car row as the place to shop for a vehicle. The consolidation of brick and mortar facilities may have been accelerated by a shrinking economy and government dictates; however, the writing has been on the virtual wall for some time. Technology has always served as the catalyst for change and the Internet has proven to be the platform to introduce the next evolution of the auto industry.The world wide web has matured as an efficient information resource to replace the real world auto dealership as the place of choice for car shoppers to gather the information they need to select a vehicle and a dealership — in that order! Internet based social networking is the virtual version of a Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club, Community Event, Fraternity, etc., linked together by a technology that serves as a central communication and distribution tool.The importance of relationship based selling in the real world is supported in every sales training manual based on the observation that people like to do business with people that they like. The logic to Sell yourself, sell the dealership, sell the vehicle and then justify the price is an accepted wisdom that is based on the one constant that has survived in both the real world and the world wide web — Human Nature! Internet based social networks represent an online community of like-minded consumers who have a strong influence on their online friends. Auto dealers must invest and involve in these online communities as people not as an auto dealer.They must prioritize the interests of their new online friends before, during and after their buying cycle to earn their trust and consideration when they have a need for a new vehicle or to service their present one. After all, what are friends for!Once a need has surfaced it is critical that the transition from casual conversations to focused selling processes is transparent and comprehensive to move the consumer seamlessly through their online shopping experience. Technology can communicate the information needed by both the consumer and the dealer to move forward into a transaction. However, the processes must build on the personality and relationship built on the social networking site that surfaced the opportunity. The unique differentiator between the dealers down the street selling the same product is not the price, but the people that started the dialogue built on an earned relationship and trust.Viral marketing is a natural extension of social networking that distributes a message in such a way that it will be forwarded by the recipient in a geometric progression enhanced by its valued content, unique creative, entertaining production or some quality that will motivate the initial consumer to share it with their spheres of influence. The exponential growth of this type of online distribution channel affords an extremely cost effective media to distribute the initial message to a diverse audience that may or may not be interested in the content, but even a small percentage of conversions represent a superior short term and quantifiable R.O.I. to conventional marketing media. The buzz created by the extended online community also develops long term branding recognition that enhances the reach and frequency of the message with less measurable results but similar value in developing top of the mind awareness for future customers.By extension, social media as it is applied for the purpose of marketing for the retail auto industry is a channel for distribution of both viral and targeted marketing messages through controlled blogging forums as well as expanded spheres of influence through online communities such as Twitter, Face book, LinkedIn, Naymz, YouTube, etc.These online social networking communities have unique profiles that attract different types of users. Twitter and Face book, for example, are more universal and personal in nature while Naymz and LinkedIn are more professional and focused on business to business networking with YouTube using video to express the message. These online communities will be part of your extended social media channel, however, more specialized networks targeted to the auto industry should be the core channels based on their applicable content, audience and related links.It should also be noted that recent market studies confirm that the efficiency defined by Twitter – in that they limit their postings to 140 words – has served to differentiate them from other sites with a superior growth curve to prove it. Conversion rates from Twitter users who access online banner ads or similar commercial messages are twice those of social networkers who do not have Twitter in their online profiles. The revelation is that many online networkers are overwhelmed by the fragmented online communities that they participate in and limited time requires them to seek out more effective ways to manage their online and real world lives.New platforms that link these diverse online communities into one central access point now exist that provide efficiencies beyond those provided by any single site. Power.Com — for example — functions as a layer or home page that represents this one stop social networking site philosophy. Newly developed marketing platforms serving the auto industry, like ronsmap.com, integrate social media with their vehicle listings with localized search engine functions — think Google Local! ronsmap is a game changing online car buying/selling site for both consumers and dealers that makes car buying fast, comprehensive, transparent and live. Their proprietary technology gives customers unparalleled buying and negotiating power over the car buying/selling processes including the opportunity to accommodate For Sale By Owner listings. It provides auto dealers with unprecedented levels of sales intelligence on consumer leads and it enables automotive advertising agencies to promote and engage consumers via social networks.The ability to offer both B2B and B2C marketing messages supported by relevant social networking forums is an efficient combination of business and pleasure that will attract today’s time challenged consumers. Of course, business opportunities must be subordinate to providing relevancy and interesting content to the end users — the car shoppers — however, the convenience of providing a locally targeted inner circle of connected real world friends through an online communication tool is an example of the leveraged and efficient resources that are emerging on the Internet. Marketing to consumers in social networking communities requires resources, tools and skill sets to compliment and supplement auto dealers existing online selling efforts and ronsmap provides all of these elements in a cost effective scalable manner while delivering market intelligence that enables the auto dealer to maximize their conversion rates and preserve gross profit in their online negotiations.Finally, many dealers have learned the value of integrating customer generated content onto their websites through blogging forums and other methods to present past and present customer experiences to potential future customers. These dealer sponsored social networking platforms are often suspect and dealers tend to filter negative comments on their own site which limits participation by customers and adversely impacts the confidence of visitors in the value of the content. A more proven platform has been for auto dealers to support third party micro-sites that distance the dealer from the online community. The site can then expand on the messages it presents to include issues of interest to potential customers. Links to community organizations and related information resources supported by the dealer do not require a sales message, which would likely alienate the online community. The value of developing relationships with the site visitors on the common ground of your shared support for the activities coordinated on the site will plant the seed that will grow when they are looking for a friend in the car business.The agenda of participants in social media and social networking does not include commercial messages as it is primarily an online platform to build relationships and share information. On the contrary, any commercial abuse of a social media site will alienate users and create negative backlash. That said, as previously stated, human nature has survived from the real world to the virtual world and people still prefer to do business with friends — real or virtual. As long as the sales message is secondary to providing valued content or is placed in the context of a relationship focused community with shared interests then the ability to develop sales is both measurable and assured.Viral marketing and social media have cost advantages over conventional media — including radio, TV, print, direct mail, etc. — as well as online investments in search engine marketing, (SEM) — such as pay per click and banner advertisements — since there is no direct costs.They are similar in their R.O.I. and value to Internet based search engine optimization, (SEO), with comparable indirect costs in that they are labor intensive. However, properly leveraged reciprocal links and automated content provided by RSS feeds from related online sources can be integrated to reduce the labor for both content and distribution enhancing the R.O.I. even after the cost of labor is considered.An additional unique value of social media is the increasing importance of relevancy and consumer generated content in consumer preference in their selection of sites as a resource for information. Improvement in conversion and bounce rates, time on page and a number of other site analytics can be directly attributed to improved relevancy and consumer content — as is provided by social media when properly integrated with a website.More significantly, is the resulting impact it is having on search engines such as Google in adjusting the algorithms that establish both page rankings and even costs associated with their pay per click programs. Also, the constantly changing messages provided by user generated content on the posting site improves its SEO. The importance of relevancy has been firmly established by both consumers and the search engines insuring that its impact on Internet use will increase as should your focus on it.A less obvious but equally valued aspect of the use of social media to extend your marketing plans is the evolution of the use of the Internet by consumers to be more of a pull/push media vs. the old world marketing logic of push/pull. The Internet has allowed consumers the freedom to gather information from a variety of online resources to avoid the sales hype and self serving messages used by advertisers in other media.The recognized preference for consumers to rely on referrals and shared personal experiences from third party sources and “friends” has been enhanced by the Internet and, more specifically, social media which has been shown to provide a stronger influence on consumers than both conventional and other methods of Internet based marketing efforts. Leveraged resources in the auto industry social networking arena provide consumers, auto dealers and vendors with the inside story on the auto industry. These site offer shared content by direct and indirect links with other established social media networks as well as specialized auto industry networking communities in consumer/dealer/consultant/vendor facing forums.It is important to note that the messages and even the portals themselves are established as open forums with minimum self serving or obviously commercial elements. Of course, the underlying purpose of many of these sites is to enhance the SEO and relevancy of the auto dealer participants and all of the contributing members. However, social media rely on relationship based communications. If a site is perceived by consumers as being self serving or commercial it will be shunned by consumers.The demand by consumers for transparency on an auto dealer’s website is coupled with the auto dealer’s need to convert these virtual customers to real world selling opportunities for vehicle sales and service. The following online processes are designed to replicate and integrate with established real world selling systems without offending the online shoppers by delivering the information that they need, when they need it — which is immediately!1) Meeting and Greeting: Meeting and greeting is step one in both the real and the virtual world. If a customer walks into a showroom he expects to either find the information he wants or to be directed to where he can find it. Conversion tools, such as Argistics AutoTransaXion and Auto Website Plus, allow a pro-active engagement with an invitation to answer a customer’s questions.AutoTransaXion links with the dealer’s DMS and CRM to integrate with established real world selling systems. More uniquely, their two way video customer interaction platform replicates the human experience” for relationship based communications. Another chat application with a unique added value is AutoWebsitePlus.Com. It replaces the video function found in AutoTransaXion with a 15 language translation application that allows an English speaking sales staff to directly communicate with Spanish, German, Italian, etc. speaking customers. Specialized R.O.I. analytics include S.E.M. and S.E.O. quantified and qualified reports to monitor and manage all of your online advertising and marketing investments that are driven to your website.Both AutoTransaXion and Auto Website Plus also offer a staffed solution to supplement — or even replace — an auto dealer’s sales or internet staff in processing internet leads sourced from the site. Justified cuts in expenses by auto dealers struggling to adjust fixed and semi-variable expenses to be in synch with reduced profit margins and sales volume has forced many dealers to reduce the efficiency of their selling processes on both their real and virtual showrooms. The ability to add a remote staff to instantly respond and process online sales and service opportunities in a consistent manner can either supplement existing staff or extend the online showroom hours to a 24/7 schedule.2) Initial T.O. + qualifying + feature/benefit presentations: AutoTransaXion and Auto Website Plus both provide a real time interaction which can be used to accommodate an initial T.O. and to initiate an interview to qualify the customer’s needs. Once their needs are determined, the application continues in a push/pull manner to present information on a variety of vehicles.3) Inventory walk and test drive: The use of videos in conjunction with embedded links to relevant information, such as Car Fax reports, combined with a list of comparable vehicles based on the customer’s needs, can replicate the consumer experience in the real world. SiSTeR Technologies Video CarLot is an automated video production service that can convert an auto dealer’s online pictures into a professional video with human voice as well as the ability to integrate existing video content into the stitched pictures provided on the dealer’s website. In addition, multiple schema layers linked to a dedicated micro-site — vShock — provides an extended marketing platform for similar inventory on the dealer’s website. This process will narrow down the inventory to a short list of possible vehicles to allow the online selling process to continue into relevant negotiations and in some cases even to an actual online transaction. This application also integrates a lead conversion form that is directly sourced back to the video posted on the dealer’s website, third party advertising sites and even on the search engines as a unique URL linked to the video posted on You Tube through a dedicated API that delivers the vehicle with integrated meta tags and search words tied to the vehicle as well as links back to the posting dealer’s website in synch with their established S.E.O. programs. (vSEO)4) Trade-in evaluation and negotiations: AutoTransaXion and Auto Website Plus push/pull capabilities include the ability to request pictures and details on a trade-in that will provide sufficient information for a dealer to establish an actual appraised value subject to confirmation at the time of delivery. Similarly, since the applications are linked with the auto dealer’s DMS, the first pencil can be delivered at the point of first contact with actual negotiations in a similar fashion to established real world selling processes.5) Online transactions and delivery: AutoTransaXion and Auto Website Plus can complete a negotiation and process all customer and vehicle information directly into an auto dealer’s DMS and CRM with the ability to push all forms needed to consummate a sale. The dealership can then deliver the vehicle along with the appropriate paperwork. The delivery can be scheduled at the dealership to avoid right of rescission rules that exist in many states. It should be noted that even if an appointment is made at the dealership the process will be greatly enhanced by the online communications that preceded it.6) Follow up for sold and un-sold units: Database marketing for sold and unsold customers has existed for many years, however, matrix based automated solutions have been extremely limited. Bulldog Marketing Technologies and their integrated Consumer Cleanse provide a custom follow up to any customer that has been entered into a dealer’s database. The messages can be delivered via email or direct mail with a personalized message drawn from the initial contact.The unique feature of Bulldog is their ability to select comparable vehicles for the ongoing consideration of unsold customers. The contact can include current price information including factory incentives, interest rates and payments to address issues that may have prevented the initial sale.In addition, Consumer Cleanse uses third party resources to determine if a customer has already purchased a vehicle — even if from a different dealership — so the message can be converted to a service offer rather than a sales message that will be ignored by the customer. Sold customers are also included in the process with service offers and customer satisfaction messages to supplement the dealer’s existing CRM functions.7) Inventory management and ongoing online marketing: It is an accepted wisdom that dealers make their money on Used Cars when they buy them, not when they sell them. Inventory management systems like AAX, vAuto, eCarList and FirstLook provide applications that use historical sales data as well as current online postings in varying ratios of relevancy to assist in the appraisal process. Extended and integrated marketing platforms also seamlessly place the newly acquired inventory onto the dealer’s website and third party advertising sites. Since time is money the faster the vehicles are placed on the virtual inventory and online marketing plan the sooner they are sold and the profit is turned into another vehicle.FirstLook has the unique ability to apply their proprietary algorithm to design the copy of the online ads for the vehicles using their Consumer Optimization process to prioritize the features and benefits for each vehicle to exactly match proven customer preferences. This automated production process increases conversion and profits from the posted ads and additional features and functionality are planned to further enhance the ads. (Can you say VIDEO!)All of the issues discussed in this article can be referenced to the key differentiator between conventional advertising/marketing and the newly maturing position being reserved for social networking. For example, customer reviews exist in most retail verticals on the World Wide Web and the auto industry is no exception. While the importance of this component of many social networking site can’t be over emphasized, it is only one bullet in the gun of auto dealer’s that are constantly expanding their investment in reputation management and branding through the use of their social networking/marketing plans.Web 2.0 has become an established buzz for today’s automotive advertising agencies but User Generated Content, (UGC), has earned a position in their vocabulary in a variety of forms. Social Media — for example — references communication technology offered in a public forum that allows users to interact and contribute shared content through a variety of tools including forums, blogs, Weblogs, networking communities, wikis and radio podcasts — like my own blog talk radio shows on AdAgencyOnline.Net.Social Marketing describes a grouping of social media tools that provide direct personal relationships with a targeted group of customers. Social Networking Sites include well recognized online communities like Face Book, Twitter, Bebo, MySpace and newly maturing centralized aggregator sites like ronsmap.com that allow people to connect with old and new online friends through personal profiles that define their shared interests in both the real and the virtual world on an individual basis as well as with groups that they have in common.The growing acceptance and recognition of these various and related facets of the new phenomenon of Social Networking is built on established business and advertising marketing principals enhanced by the new language of today’s Internet and technology driven auto industry. They all recognize the importance of relationship selling and branding to supplement and compliment — not replace — conventional calls to action and direct selling messages.The search engines are also playing a growing role in the acceptance of UGC and the importance of reputation management with the development of new tools — like Google’s Sidewiki — that provides site visitors with a text box to post their opinion of an auto dealer’s website to future visitors. They have an added self serving agenda to eventually sell this data and information to potential online advertisers since the application also tracks the user’s history on the Internet but it raises the importance and urgency of protecting auto dealer’s online reputation to a new level!Automotive advertising agencies are learning and applying the rules established by the search engines but dictated by the online consumer who ultimately is the only driver on the Internet Super Highway that matters. In summation, monetizing social networking and applying it into selling processes that blur the line between the real and the virtual world is the goal and role of today’s automotive advertising agencies.

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Commercial Loans – How They Differ From Residential Loans

Are you ready to buy your first Investment property but aren’t sure what types of commercial loans are available and how they differ from residential loans?Loans for investment property such as multi-family apartments and retail and office space are also referred to as commercial loans. And the lenders requirements for these loans differ greatly from residential, so you want to make sure you understand the differences before you start looking at buying a property that will require one.The first and biggest difference is that the lenders are going to require you to put enough money down so the property debt covers. This means that you’ll have enough rental income each month to pay for all your expenses including taxes, insurance, and your mortgage, and still have some money left over. So, each month and year you’re going to have positive income and spendable cash flow. Be prepared though, because this typically means you’re going to be putting down a minimum of 20% and sometimes as much as 35-40% or more depending on the area you’re investing in.The second difference is that commercial lenders are much more focused on the real estate than the borrower. So, they are going to be more concerned about the location of the property and the quality of the tenants and income stream rather than your credit history and annual income. Commercial lenders want to make sure that the property you’re investing in will continue to generate a healthy income year after year from which you can repay the mortgage you are borrowing. After all, their main concern is getting their funds back and not ending up owning the property.Finally, commercial loans are typically fixed for 3, 5, or 10 years, and usually never longer. So, you can’t get a 15 or 30 year fixed that you often find in residential lending. After your initial fixed rate term expires, be prepared for your interest rate to adjust and float according to the Index you’re tied to, such as Prime or LIBOR. So, if you plan on holding the property longer, it’s a great time to consider doing a refinance when your rate begins to adjust.I always suggest to my clients that they speak with a loan broker to discuss their situation and goals and fully understand the options available to them. Commercial lending can be quite different from residential, so do your homework and make sure you’re prepared.Well, that’s all for now. Check back soon for more tips and real estate news.

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Multifamily Commercial Loan

A Multifamily building eligible for commercial financing is defined as a structure having at least 5 or more units with the residences for permanent habitation. The major factor in determining if you can qualify for a multifamily commercial mortgage is the property itself. These are a few key characteristics and considerations on a multifamily commercial building to make it eligible to be financed:The Condition.1. Signed leases with terms of 1 year or greater.2. What are the number of bedrooms and bathrooms.3. What is the history of the vacancy rates.4. Do the units have separate utilities to bill the tenants directly.5. Is your place professionally managed.6. Is there any deferred maintenance, damage or functional obsolescence to address with the building.7. Does the facility have a pool, clubhouse or tennis court and other amenities.8. Is the facility close to employment, education, shopping and attractions with public transportation and access to major streets and expressways nearby.Not only are these characteristics important in determining if your place qualifies for financing, these are major factors in determining its value.The Income.In addition to the condition, the income as compared to the expenses is a key to determine both the value and how much mortgage you can qualify for. The greater the income in relation to expenses the easier it is to qualify for a commercial mortgage. The best rates are offered by the lenders that are both conservative and accept the least risk. The most conservative lenders require 1.5 times the income to the expenses to qualify for financing. If units are in good condition and have a little less income there is still financing available down to as low as 110 per cent of the expenses.The Management Company.The experience of the property manager is also a consideration to financing. If you have purchased a commercial building or are considering doing so and you do not have experience owning or managing the real estate it is important to hire a professional manager. The larger properties almost all have professional management company. When considering smaller units you may believe they are an unnecessary expense, but professional managers increase your ability to qualify to fund commercial project if you do not have management experience.The Owner.Quite often on larger buildings the financing is based solely on the property. But for smaller multi family projects the lenders require a personal guarantee and the review, income, credit and assets just like a residential investment financing. The typical down payment required is 20% to 30% for properties and the lender require the borrower to have reserves for repairs, vacancies and other contingencies.The Loan.Apartment commercial loans are generally structured with terms written with 5, 7, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 years terms with or without balloon payments. For this type of commercial loan expect to provide full documentation including:1. Last 3 years of operating statements.2. Year to date operating statement.3. Property rent roll.4. Last 3 years federal tax returns of borrower.5. Personal financial statement(s).6. Digital photos of the subject apartments.There are multifamily commercial mortgage products that can help people with significantly impaired credit, these have higher commercial loan rates. For borrowers with great credit and assets that deserve the best rates, funding is also available.

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Increasing Student Success Through Instruction in Self-Determination

An enormous amount of research shows the importance of self-determination (i.e., autonomy) for students in elementary school through college for enhancing learning and improving important post-school outcomes.
Findings

Research by psychologists Richard Ryan, PhD, and Edward Deci, PhD, on Self-Determination Theory indicates that intrinsic motivation (doing something because it is inherently interesting or enjoyable), and thus higher quality learning, flourishes in contexts that satisfy human needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Students experience competence when challenged and given prompt feedback. Students experience autonomy when they feel supported to explore, take initiative and develop and implement solutions for their problems. Students experience relatedness when they perceive others listening and responding to them. When these three needs are met, students are more intrinsically motivated and actively engaged in their learning.

Numerous studies have found that students who are more involved in setting educational goals are more likely to reach their goals. When students perceive that the primary focus of learning is to obtain external rewards, such as a grade on an exam, they often perform more poorly, think of themselves as less competent, and report greater anxiety than when they believe that exams are simply a way for them to monitor their own learning. Some studies have found that the use of external rewards actually decreased motivation for a task for which the student initially was motivated. In a 1999 examination of 128 studies that investigated the effects of external rewards on intrinsic motivations, Drs. Deci and Ryan, along with psychologist Richard Koestner, PhD, concluded that such rewards tend to have a substantially negative effect on intrinsic motivation by undermining people’s taking responsibility for motivating or regulating themselves.

Self-determination research has also identified flaws in high stakes, test focused school reforms, which despite good intentions, has led teachers and administrators to engage in precisely the types of interventions that result in poor quality learning. Dr. Ryan and colleagues found that high stakes tests tend to constrain teachers’ choices about curriculum coverage and curtail teachers’ ability to respond to students’ interests (Ryan & La Guardia, 1999). Also, psychologists Tim Urdan, PhD, and Scott Paris, PhD, found that such tests can decrease teacher enthusiasm for teaching, which has an adverse effect on students’ motivation (Urdan & Paris, 1994).

The processes described in self-determination theory may be particularly important for children with special educational needs. Researcher Michael Wehmeyer found that students with disabilities who are more self-determined are more likely to be employed and living independently in the community after completing high school than students who are less self-determined.

Research also shows that the educational benefits of self-determination principles don’t stop with high school graduation. Studies show how the orientation taken by college and medical school instructors (whether it is toward controlling students’ behavior or supporting the students’ autonomy) affects the students’ motivation and learning.
Significance

Self-determination theory has identified ways to better motivate students to learn at all educational levels, including those with disabilities.
Practical Application

Schools throughout the country are using self-determination instruction as a way to better motivate students and meet the growing need to teach children and youth ways to more fully accept responsibility for their lives by helping them to identify their needs and develop strategies to meet those needs.

Researchers have developed and evaluated instructional interventions and supports to encourage self-determination for all students, with many of these programs designed for use by students with disabilities. Many parents, researchers and policy makers have voiced concern about high rates of unemployment, under-employment and poverty experienced by students with disabilities after they complete their educational programs. Providing support for student self-determination in school settings is one way to enhance student learning and improve important post-school outcomes for students with disabilities. Schools have particularly emphasized the use of self-determination curricula with students with disabilities to meet federal mandates to actively involve students with disabilities in the Individualized Education Planning process.

Programs to promote self-determination help students acquire knowledge, skills and beliefs that meet their needs for competence, autonomy and relatedness (for example, see Steps to Self-determination by educational researchers Sharon Field and Alan Hoffman). Such programs also provide instruction aimed specifically at helping students play a more active role in educational planning (for example, see The Self-directed Individualized Education Plan by Jim Martin, Laura Huber Marshall, Laurie Maxson, & Patty Jerman).

Drs. Field and Hoffman developed a model designed to guide the development of self-determination instructional interventions. According to the model, instructional activities in areas such as increasing self-awareness; improving decision-making, goal-setting and goal-attainment skills; enhancing communication and relationship skills; and developing the ability to celebrate success and learn from reflecting on experiences lead to increased student self-determination. Self-determination instructional programs help students learn how to participate more actively in educational decision-making by helping them become familiar with the educational planning process, assisting them to identify information they would like to share at educational planning meetings, and supporting students to develop skills to effectively communicate their needs and wants. Examples of activities used in self-determination instructional programs include reflecting on daydreams to help students decide what is important to them; teaching students how to set goals that are important to them and then, with the support of peers, family members and teachers, taking steps to achieve those goals. Providing contextual supports and opportunities for students, such as coaching for problem-solving and offering opportunities for choice, are also critical elements that lead to meeting needs for competence, autonomy and relatedness and thus, increasing student self-determination.

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How to Build a Better Educational System: Jigsaw Classrooms

The jigsaw classroom technique can transform competitive classrooms in which many students are struggling into cooperative classrooms in which once-struggling students show dramatic academic and social improvements.
Findings

In the early 1970s, in the wake of the civil rights movement, educators were faced with a social dilemma that had no obvious solution. All over the country, well-intentioned efforts to desegregate America’s public schools were leading to serious problems. Ethnic minority children, most of whom had previously attended severely under-funded schools, found themselves in classrooms composed predominantly of more privileged White children. This created a situation in which students from affluent backgrounds often shone brilliantly while students from impoverished backgrounds often struggled. Of course, this difficult situation seemed to confirm age-old stereotypes: that Blacks and Latinos are stupid or lazy and that Whites are pushy and overly competitive. The end result was strained relations between children from different ethnic groups and widening gaps in the academic achievement of Whites and minorities.

Drawing on classic psychological research on how to reduce tensions between competing groups (e.g., see Allport, 1954; Sherif, 1958; see also Pettigrew, 1998), Elliot Aronson and colleagues realized that one of the major reasons for this problem was the competitive nature of the typical classroom. In a typical classroom, students work on assignments individually, and teachers often call on students to see who can publicly demonstrate his or her knowledge. Anyone who has ever been called to the board to solve a long division problem – only to get confused about dividends and divisors – knows that public failure can be devastating. The snide remarks that children often make when their peers fail do little to remedy this situation. But what if students could be taught to work together in the classroom – as cooperating members of a cohesive team? Could a cooperative learning environment turn things around for struggling students? When this is done properly, the answer appears to be a resounding yes.

In response to real educational dilemmas, Aronson and colleagues developed and implemented the jigsaw classroom technique in Austin, Texas, in 1971. The jigsaw technique is so named because each child in a jigsaw classroom has to become an expert on a single topic that is a crucial part of a larger academic puzzle. For example, if the children in a jigsaw classroom were working on a project about World War II, a classroom of 30 children might be broken down into five diverse groups of six children each. Within each group, a different child would be given the responsibility of researching and learning about a different specific topic: Khanh might learn about Hitler’s rise to power, Tracy might learn about the U.S. entry into the war, Mauricio might learn about the development of the atomic bomb, etc. To be sure that each group member learned his or her material well, the students from different groups who had the same assignment would be instructed to compare notes and share information. Then students would be brought together in their primary groups, and each student would present his or her “piece of the puzzle” to the other group members. Of course, teachers play the important role of keeping the students involved and derailing any tensions that may emerge. For example, suppose Mauricio struggled as he tried to present his information about the atomic bomb. If Tracy were to make fun of him, the teacher would quickly remind Tracy that while it may make her feel good to make fun of her teammate, she is hurting herself and her group – because everyone will be expected to know all about the atomic bomb on the upcoming quiz.
Significance
When properly carried out, the jigsaw classroom technique can transform competitive classrooms in which many students are struggling into cooperative classrooms in which once-struggling students show dramatic academic and social improvements (and in which students who were already doing well continue to shine). Students in jigsaw classrooms also come to like each other more, as students begin to form cross-ethnic friendships and discard ethnic and cultural stereotypes. Finally, jigsaw classrooms decrease absenteeism, and they even seem to increase children’s level of empathy (i.e., children’s ability to put themselves in other people’s shoes). The jigsaw technique thus has the potential to improve education dramatically in a multi-cultural world by revolutionizing the way children learn.
Practical Application

Since its demonstration in the 1970s, the jigsaw classroom has been used in hundreds of classrooms settings across the nation, ranging from the elementary schools where it was first developed to high school and college classrooms (e.g., see Aronson, Blaney, Stephan, Rosenfield, & Sikes, 1977; Perkins & Saris, 2001; Slavin, 1980). Researchers know that the technique is effective, incidentally, because it has been carefully studied using solid research techniques. For example, in many cases, students in different classrooms who are covering the same material are randomly assigned to receive either traditional instruction (no intervention) or instruction by means of the jigsaw technique. Studies in real classrooms have consistently revealed enhanced academic performance, reductions in stereotypes and prejudice, and improved social relations.

Aronson is not the only researcher to explore the merits of cooperative learning techniques. Shortly after Aronson and colleagues began to document the power of the jigsaw classroom, Robert Slavin, Elizabeth Cohen and others began to document the power of other kinds of cooperative learning programs (see Cohen & Lotan, 1995; Slavin, 1980; Slavin, Hurley, & Chamberlain, 2003). As of this writing, some kind of systematic cooperative learning technique had been applied in about 1500 schools across the country, and the technique appears to be picking up steam. Perhaps the only big question that remains about cooperative learning techniques such as the jigsaw classroom is why these techniques have not been implemented even more broadly than they already have.

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Have Your Children Had Their Anti-Smoking Shots?

Findings

In the early 1960s, social psychologist William McGuire published some classic papers showing that it is surprisingly easy to change people’s attitudes about things that we all wholeheartedly accept as true. For example, for speakers armed with a little knowledge of persuasion, it is remarkably easy to convince almost anyone that brushing one’s teeth is not such a great idea. McGuire’s insight into this curious phenomenon was that it is easy to change people’s minds about things that they have always taken for granted precisely because most people have little if any practice resisting attacks on attitudes that no one ever questions.

Taking this logic a little further, McGuire asked if it might be possible to train people to resist attacks on their beliefs by giving them practice at resisting arguments that they could easily refute. Specifically, McGuire drew an analogy between biological resistance to disease and psychological resistance to persuasion. Biological inoculation works by exposing people to a weakened version of an attacking agent such as a virus. People’s bodies produce antibodies that make them immune to the attacking agent, and when a full-blown version of the agent hits later in life, people win the biological battle against the full-blown disease. Would giving people a little practice fending off a weak attack on their attitudes make it easier for people to resist stronger attacks on their attitudes that come along later? The answer turns out to be yes. McGuire coined the phrase attitude inoculation to refer to the process of resisting strong persuasive arguments by getting practice fighting off weaker versions of the same arguments.
Significance

Once attitude inoculation had been demonstrated consistently in the laboratory, researchers decided to see if attitude inoculation could be used to help parents, teachers, and social service agents deal with a pressing social problem that kills about 440,000 people in the U.S. every year: cigarette smoking. Smoking seemed like an ideal problem to study because children below the age of 10 or 12 almost always report negative attitudes about smoking. However, in the face of peer pressure to be cool, many of these same children become smokers during middle to late adolescence.
Practical Application

Adolescents change their attitudes about smoking (and become smokers) because of the power of peer pressure. Researchers quickly realized that if they could inoculate children against pro-smoking arguments (by teaching them to resist pressure from their peers who believed that smoking is “cool”), they might be able to reduce the chances that children would become smokers. A series of field studies of attitude inoculation, conducted in junior high schools and high schools throughout the country, demonstrated that brief interventions using attitude inoculation dramatically reduced rates of teenage smoking. For instance, in an early study by Cheryl Perry and colleagues (1980), high school students inoculated junior high schools students against smoking by having the younger kids role-play the kind of situations they might actually face with a peer who pressured them to try a cigarette. For example, when a role-playing peer called a student “chicken” for not being willing to try an imaginary cigarette, the student practiced answers such as “I’d be a real chicken if I smoked just to impress you.” The kids who were inoculated in this way were about half as likely to become smokers as were kids in a very similar school who did not receive this special intervention.

Public service advertising campaigns have also made use of attitude inoculation theory by encouraging parents to help their children devise strategies for saying no when peers encourage them to smoke. Programs that have made whole or partial use of attitude inoculation programs have repeatedly documented the effectiveness of attitude inoculation to prevent teenage smoking, to curb illicit drug use, and to reduce teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. In comparison with old-fashioned interventions such as simple education about the risks of smoking or teenage pregnancy, attitude inoculation frequently reduces risky behaviors by 30-70% (see Botvin et al., 1995; Ellickson & Bell, 1990; Perry et al., 1980). As psychologist David Myers put it in his popular social psychology textbook, “Today any school district or teacher wishing to use the social psychological approach to smoking prevention can do so easily, inexpensively, and with the hope of significant reductions in future smoking rates and health costs.” So the next time you think about inoculating kids to keep them healthy, make sure you remember that one of the most important kinds of inoculation any kid can get is a psychological inoculation against tobacco.

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Early Intervention Can Improve Low-Income Children’s Cognitive Skills and Academic Achievement

National Head Start program conceptualized while psychologists were beginning to study preventive intervention for young children living in poverty.
Findings
As a group, children who live in poverty tend to perform worse in school than do children from more privileged backgrounds. For the first half of the 20th century, researchers attributed this difference to inherent cognitive deficits. At the time, the prevailing belief was that the course of child development was dictated by biology and maturation. By the early 1960s, this position gave way to the notion popularized by psychologists such as J. McVicker Hunt and Benjamin Bloom that intelligence could rather easily be shaped by the environment. There was very little research at the time to support these speculations but a few psychologists had begun to study whether environmental manipulation could prevent poor cognitive outcomes. Results of studies by psychologists Susan Gray and Rupert Klaus (1965), Martin Deutsch (1965) and Bettye Caldwell and former U.S. Surgeon General Julius Richmond (1968) supported the notion that early attention to physical and psychological development could improve cognitive ability.
Significance

These preliminary results caught the attention of Sargent Shriver, President Lyndon Johnson’s chief strategist in implementing an arsenal of antipoverty programs as part of the War on Poverty. His idea for a school readiness program for children of the poor focused on breaking the cycle of poverty. Shriver reasoned that if poor children could begin school on an equal footing with wealthier classmates, they would have a better of chance of succeeding in school and avoiding poverty in adulthood. He appointed a planning committee of 13 professionals in physical and mental health, early education, social work, and developmental psychology. Their work helped shape what is now known as the federal Head Start program.

The three developmental psychologists in the group were Urie Bronfenbrenner, Mamie Clark, and Edward Zigler. Bronfenbrenner convinced the other members that intervention would be most effective if it involved not just the child but the family and community that comprise the child-rearing environment. Parent involvement in school operations and administration were unheard of at the time, but it became a cornerstone of Head Start and proved to be a major contributor to its success. Zigler had been trained as a scientist and was distressed that the new program was not going to be field-tested before its nationwide launch. Arguing that it was not wise to base such a massive, innovative program on good ideas and concepts but little empirical evidence, he insisted that research and evaluation be part of Head Start. When he later became the federal official responsible for administering the program, Zigler (often referred to as the “father of Head Start”) worked to cast Head Start as a national laboratory for the design of effective early childhood services.

Although it is difficult to summarize the hundreds of empirical studies of Head Start outcomes, Head Start does seem to produce a variety of benefits for most children who participate. Although some studies have suggested that the intellectual advantages gained from participation in Head Start gradually disappear as children progress through elementary school, some of these same studies have shown more lasting benefits in the areas of school achievement and adjustment.
Practical Application

Head Start began as a great experiment that over the years has yielded prolific results. Some 20 million children and families have participated in Head Start since the summer of 1965; current enrollment approaches one million annually, including those in the new Early Head Start that serves families with children from birth to age 3. Psychological research on early intervention has proliferated, creating an expansive literature and sound knowledge base. Many research ideas designed and tested in the Head Start laboratory have been adapted in a variety of service delivery programs. These include family support services, home visiting, a credentialing process for early childhood workers, and education for parenthood. Head Start’s efforts in preschool education spotlighted the value of school readiness and helped spur today’s movement toward universal preschool.

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Family-Like Environment Better for Troubled Children and Teens

The Teaching-Family Model changes bad behavior through straight talk and loving relationships.
Findings

In the late 1960′s, psychologists Elaine Phillips, Elery Phillips, Dean Fixsen, and Montrose Wolf developed an empirically tested treatment program to help troubled children and juvenile offenders who had been assigned to residential group homes. These researchers combined the successful components of their studies into the Teaching-Family Model, which offers a structured treatment regimen in a family-like environment. The model is built around a married couple (teaching-parents) that lives with children in a group home and teaches them essential interpersonal and living skills. Not only have teaching parents’ behaviors and techniques been assessed for their effectiveness, but they have also been empirically tested for whether children like them. Teaching-parents also work with the children’s parents, teachers, employers, and peers to ensure support for the children’s positive changes. Although more research is needed, preliminary results suggest that, compared to children in other residential treatment programs, children in Teaching-Family Model centers have fewer contacts with police and courts, lower dropout rates, and improved school grades and attendance.

Couples are selected to be teaching-parents based on their ability to provide individualized and affirming care. Teaching-parents then undergo an intensive year-long training process. In order to maintain their certification, teaching-parents and Teaching-Family Model organizations are evaluated every year, and must meet the rigorous standards set by the Teaching-Family Association.
Significance
The Teaching-Family Model is one of the few evidence-based residential treatment programs for troubled children. In the past, many treatment programs viewed delinquency as an illness, and therefore placed children in institutions for medical treatment. The Teaching-Family Model, in contrast, views children’s behavior problems as stemming from their lack of essential interpersonal relationships and skills. Accordingly, the Teaching-Family Model provides children with these relationships and teaches them these skills, using empirically validated methods. With its novel view of problem behavior and its carefully tested and disseminated treatment program, the Teaching-Family Model has helped to transform the treatment of behavioral problems from impersonal interventions at large institutions to caring relationships in home and community settings. The Teaching-Family Model has also demonstrated how well-researched treatment programs can be implemented on a large scale. Most importantly, the Teaching-Family Model has given hope that young people with even the most difficult problems or behaviors can improve the quality of their lives and make contributions to society.
Practical Application
In recent years, the Teaching-Family Model has been expanded to include foster care facilities, home treatment settings, and even schools. The Teaching-Family Model has also been adapted to accommodate the needs of physically, emotionally, and sexually abused children; emotionally disturbed and autistic children and adults; medically fragile children; and adults with disabilities. Successful centers that have been active for over 30 years include the Bringing it All Back Home Study Center in North Carolina, the Houston Achievement Place in Texas, and the Girls and Boys Town in Nebraska. Other Teaching-Family Model organizations are in Alberta (Canada), Arkansas, Hawaii, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

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Believing You Can Get Smarter Makes You Smarter

Thinking about intelligence as changeable and malleable, rather than stable and fixed, results in greater academic achievement, especially for people whose groups bear the burden of negative stereotypes about their intelligence.
Findings

Can people get smarter? Are some racial or social groups smarter than others? Despite a lot of evidence to the contrary, many people believe that intelligence is fixed, and, moreover, that some racial and social groups are inherently smarter than others. Merely evoking these stereotypes about the intellectual inferiority of these groups (such as women and Blacks) is enough to harm the academic perfomance of members of these groups. Social psychologist Claude Steele and his collaborators (2002) have called this phenomenon “stereotype threat.”

Yet social psychologists Aronson, Fried, and Good (2001) have developed a possible antidote to stereotype threat. They taught African American and European American college students to think of intelligence as changeable, rather than fixed – a lesson that many psychological studies suggests is true. Students in a control group did not receive this message. Those students who learned about IQ’s malleability improved their grades more than did students who did not receive this message, and also saw academics as more important than did students in the control group. Even more exciting was the finding that Black students benefited more from learning about the malleable nature of intelligence than did White students, showing that this intervention may successfully counteract stereotype threat.
Significance

This research showed a relatively easy way to narrow the Black-White academic achievement gap. Realizing that one’s intelligence may be improved may actually improve one’s intelligence, especially for those whose groups are targets of stereotypes alleging limited intelligence (e.g., Blacks, Latinos, and women in math domains.)
Practical Application

Blackwell, Dweck, and Trzesniewski (2002) recently replicated and applied this research with seventh-grade students in New York City. During the first eight weeks of the spring term, these students learned about the malleability of intelligence by reading and discussing a science-based article that described how intelligence develops. A control group of seventh-grade students did not learn about intelligence’s changeability, and instead learned about memory and mnemonic strategies. As compared to the control group, students who learned about intelligence’s malleability had higher academic motivation, better academic behavior, and better grades in mathematics. Indeed, students who were members of vulnerable groups (e.g., those who previously thought that intelligence cannot change, those who had low prior mathematics achievement, and female students) had higher mathematics grades following the intelligence-is-malleable intervention, while the grades of similar students in the control group declined. In fact, girls who received the intervention matched and even slightly exceeded the boys in math grades, whereas girls in the control group performed well below the boys.

These findings are especially important because the actual instruction time for the intervention totaled just three hours. Therefore, this is a very cost-effective method for improving students’ academic motivation and achievement.
Cited Research

Aronson, J., Fried, C. B., & Good, C. (2001). Reducing the effects of stereotype threat on African American college students by shaping theories of intelligence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 1-13.

Steele, C. M., Spencer, S. J., & Aronson, J. (2002), Contending with group image: The psychology of stereotype and social identity threat. In Mark P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology, Vol. 34, pp. 379-440. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, Inc.
Additional Sources

Blackwell, L., Dweck, C., & Trzesniewski, K. (2002). Achievement across the adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention. Manuscript in preparation.

Dweck, C., & Leggett, E. (1988). A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality. Psychological Review, 95, 256-273.

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