Social and Psychological Adjustment from a Positive Perspective: Consideration of Optimal Achievement Best

Abstract

School, like a second home, is a complex place that espouses different psychosocial experiences and influences. Aside from academic achievement, it is important for educators to recognize that there are other educational and noneducational successes, for example, the importance of social and psychological adjustment (e.g. proactive peer-peer relationship), the adoption of altruistic values and moralistic ideals, and individuals' willingness to accept cultural diversity and individual differences. It is in society's best interest that schools explore the pathways and means to assist students in their achievements of non-academic outcomes. Our work regarding the concept of optimal achievement best (Phan 2015; Phan, Ngu, and Williams In-press 2016) has produced some notable yields for consideration. Optimal achievement best is of significance for its emphasis on the striving of successful outcomes that reflects an individual's fullest capacity. Its characteristics, in a similar vein, indicate a positive, non-deficit positioning regarding human behaviors. This article, overall, focuses on an examination of optimal achievement best and how this theoretical orientation could account for and explain the non-academic attributes of successful schooling.