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CRYSTAL Systems

The educational foundations of this CRYSTAL are the recognition that student success is a function of "Risk Factors" which have a negative impact on student success, and "Protective Factors" which have a positive impact. The combined effect of these factors is "resiliency", so that the aim of this CRYSTAL is to increase resiliency by first recognizing risk and protective factors and second, minimizing risk factors and optimizing protective factors. These factors reside within a number of nested "systems": (A) learners themselves as dynamic "systems"; (B) interaction of learners with their immediate environment as a second "system; (C) interaction of learners with their local community as a third system; and (D) the interaction of learners with the global environment as a fourth "system" This CRYSTAL concentrates on increasing resiliency in each of these four systems, although it is recognized that the systems are themselves dynamically interactive.