According to a new study, the virtue of conscientiousness is the only personality trait out of the five building blocks of personality (i.e., openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, 
agreeableness, neuroticism) that is positively correlated with academic success. The higher a person’s score on tests of conscientiousness, the higher that person’s GPA is likely to be.
It isn’t enough to just sit on kids to make them do their homework. The Church teaches that families are schools of love and virtue that enable us to learn all the lessons that help us live life as a gift. Conscientiousness is one of those virtues that parents need to cultivate in their kids if they want to encourage good study habits and better grades. Conscientiousness is defined as the ability to plan ahead, be attentive, and pay attention to details.
In addition to focusing on study habits, encouraging kids to follow through on chores, to do a good job with whatever task they’re given, and to think and plan ahead (for example, by asking them to walk you through their plans for getting things done instead of just telling them what to do) are great ways to help your kids do better in school because all of these–and activities like them–tend to cultivate conscientiousness.
–For more tips on raising great Catholic kids, check out