This study examined persistence in the face of academic challenge for economically disadvantaged children. Participants included 103 children attending Head Start preschools, as well as their caregivers and teachers. Child tasks measured persistence in the face of academic challenge as well as emergent implicit theories of intelligence. Caregiver interviews provided information about poverty risks. Teacher interviews measured child attention problems. A cumulative index of poverty risks, as well as teacher-reported child attention problems and child emergent implicit theories of intelligence predicted persistence in the face of challenge. Implications concern conceptualizing persistence in the face of academic challenge, understanding diversity in educational outcomes for economically disadvantaged children and closing the achievement gap. (Contains 2 tables.)