This project investigates how two core socioemotional competencies—grit and cognitive engagement—shape students’ long-term mobility outcomes, including college enrollment, employment, and earnings. Using rich longitudinal data from the Wake County Public School System, the researchers will track the development of these competencies over the critical transition from middle to high school (eighth to ninth grade) and explore how malleable contextual factors, such as teacher-student relationships and peer support for learning, foster or constrain the growth of such competencies. The project will assess how relationships among these core competencies, contextual factors, and long-run mobility outcomes vary by gender, race and ethnicity, and economic background. By focusing on nonparent relationships and early indicators of engagement—issues central to current conversations about high school redesign and the supports needed for opportunity youth (i.e., individuals neither enrolled in college nor employed)—this work will offer policy‑relevant evidence on how schools can strengthen core and under investigated competencies related to long‑run economic mobility.

Data Sources 

• Data: Wake County Public School System administrative data, Student Engagement Instrument survey data, and National Student Clearinghouse postsecondary enrollment and completion records
• Mobility Outcomes: North Carolina Unemployment Insurance earnings and employment