794 matches found for How People Learn Brain,Mind,Experience,and School Expanded Edition. in 2. The Nature and Conditions of Engagement
Select a page to see where your word(s) or phrase(s) are located in the OpenBook. Excerpts from the chapter provide context.
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...Engagement in schoolwork involves both behaviors (e.g., persistence,...
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...effort, attention) and emotions (e.g., enthusiasm, interest, pride in success;...
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...Connell and Weliborn, 1991; Johnson, Crosnoe, and Elder, 2001;...
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...Newmann, 1992; Skinner and Belmont, 1993; Smerdon, 1999; Turner,...
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...Thorpe, and Meyer, 1998~. It is important to consider mental or cognitive...
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...be deceiving. (Who hasn't had the experience of appearing engrossed in a...
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...engagement will result in learning....
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...Students also can be socially engaged in school by participating in...
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...extracurricular activities, having friends at school, feeling a sense of loyalty...
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...1One might distinguish between "engagement" and "motivation" with motivation as the...
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...precursor (the reason for being engaged) and engagement as the psychological experience or...
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...behavior. But in everyday contexts, people tend to use these terms interchangeably, presum-...
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...appears to be concentrating intently or to be actively involved in a learning activity....
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...ENGAGING SCHOOLS...
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...to the school, and more generally by believing in the legitimacy of school....
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...pears to motivate youth to attend and to stay in school (Johnson et al.,...
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...2001; Newmann, Wehiage, and Lamborn, 1992; Tinto, 1993; Wehiage,...
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...Rutter, Smith, Lesko, and Fernandez, 1989~. This is why dropout preven-...
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...school (Finn and Rock, 1997~....
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...Motivation to attend school is not sufficient, however, because stu-...
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...dents can participate actively and enjoy the social affairs of school without...
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...such as increasing attendance and reducing dropout rates can mark progress...
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...gagement that results in learning. Our focus is aptly captured in Newmann's...
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...investment in and effort directed toward learning, understanding, or mas-...
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...The levels of both behavioral and emotional engagement can vary-...
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...cessing information (e.g., making connections to previously learned mate-...
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...to feeling excited and enthusiastic. Csikszentmihalyi (1975,1988) describes...
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...the ultimate cognitive engagement as a state of "flow," in which people are...
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...so intensely attentive to the task at hand that they lose awareness of time...
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...and space. We are not proposing that all high school students be in a...
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...constant state of flow, but we have seen youth deeply and enthusiastically...
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...engaged in schoolwork and we believe this high standard should be our...
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...Whatever the task, the goal is attentiveness and active problem solving that...
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...will promote learning, understanding, and the development of new skills....
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...Both the form and consequences of engagement are influenced by stu-...
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...dents' reasons for engagement (Ames, 1992; Linnenbrink and Pintrich,...
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...class and complete assignments to avoid punishment or bad grades are less...
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...their interest or because they experience a sense of pride in accomplishment...
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...are more likely to go beyond the minimal requirements and become actively...
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...and deeply engaged. This distinction between coerced and voluntary en-...
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...gagement is important, and we return to it later....
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...Just as there are many forms of engagement, there are many forms and...
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...THE NATURE AND CONDITIONS OF ENGAGEMENT...
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...reasons for disengagement from not paying attention and not completing...
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...homework to cutting classes and school. Behavioral problems are also...
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...evidence of disengagement and often a precursor to leaving school (or being...
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...school. But because dropping out is usually preceded by less dramatic forms...
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...of disengagement (e.g., absenteeism, poor attitudes toward school), it is...
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...viewed as the final stage in a dynamic and cumulative process (Fine, 1991;...
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...People often refer to motivation as a personal quality and describe...
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...some students as motivated and others as unmotivated. Teachers usually...
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...students enter high school with well-developed beliefs, dispositions, and...
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...behavioral patterns. But these personal beliefs and dispositions developed...
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...partly as a consequence of the educational environments they experienced....
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...even as late as high school. If teachers could observe one of their own...
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...students in other classes or learning contexts, they would see substantial...
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...demanding cognitive tasks in another class or in an after-school program....
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...a chance to regain the enthusiasm for learning that they most likely had as...
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...tion toward learning, and level of engagement when they enter high school,...
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...and that many students living in poverty endure serious hardships and have...
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...family responsibilities, such as providing income and sibling care, which...
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...make it difficult to actively participate in high school. School contexts,...
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...however, make a difference, and can diminish, if not eliminate, negative...
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...schools can do to engage (or reengage) adolescents in learning....
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...school climate,...
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...size) and...
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...ENGAGING SCHOOLS...
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...and control...
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...Values and...
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...of psychological variables beliefs about competence and control, values...
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...and goals, and a sense of social connectedness. This theory is represented in...
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...For example, in schools that meet teachers' needs for resources, profes-...
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...sional development, and collegiality, teachers are more likely to be caring...
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...and effective. Such teachers are much more likely to give students a feeling...
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...of being cared about, and to promote students' confidence in their ability to...
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...succeed and the belief that academic success is important for future goals....
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...These positive beliefs and feelings, in turn, should lead to high levels of...
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...effort and persistence. In contrast, teachers in large, impersonal schools...
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...with a climate of low standards are likely to give up on students and teach...
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...and generally negative feelings toward the teacher and school. These beliefs...
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...and feelings lead to low effort or ultimately to dropping out of school...
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...behavior is supported by studies of out-of-school programs that engage...
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...petence, control, and a sense of belonging (Catalano, Berglund, Ryan,...
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...Lonczak, and Hawkins, 1999; Eccles and Barber, 1999; Eccles and...
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...Templeton, 2001; Hawkins, Catalano, Kosterman, Abbott, and Hill, 1999;...
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...three sets of psychological mediators next, and later summarize what is...
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...known about how educational contexts affect them....
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...Perceptions of Competence and Control (I Can)...
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...THE NATURE AND CONDITIONS OF ENGAGEMENT...
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...(Atkinson, 1964; Eccles et al., 1983; Skinner, Weliborn, and Connell, 1990;...
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...Skinner, Zimmer-Gembeck, and Connell, 19981.2 They need to know what...
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...it takes to succeed and to believe they can succeed. Thus, the student who...
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...graduate will not exert much effort in class and may stop coming to school...
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...The effects of feeling incompetent on the decision to leave school were...
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...dropped out because they could not keep up with schoolwork (Berktold,...
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...Geis, and Kaufman, 1998, Table 61. Perceptions of incompetence may also...
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...contribute to the disproportionate number of low-income students and...
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...students of color who drop out of high school. In Ferguson's (2002) survey...
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...of more than 100,000 7th through 11th graders in 15 school districts,...
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...students from families with low socioeconomic status and students of color...
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...reported less understanding of teachers' lessons and comprehension of the...
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...material they read for school. Although they spent nearly as much time on...
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...One high school student interviewed by Davidson and Phelan (1999, p....
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...259), in their ethnographic study of urban high schools, succinctly de-...
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...2Self-determination theory posits that feelings of competence and control are basic human...
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...needs and that people will not be engaged or otherwise function effectively in environments...
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...that do not meet these needs (Cornell and Wellborn, 1991; Ryan and Deci, 2000a; Ryan and...
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...La Guardia, 2000). Perceptions of competence and control are also central in social psychol-...
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...ogy theories of learned helplessness (Diener and Dweck, 1978; see Dweck, 2000). Substantial...
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...bodies of research, both experimental and embedded in real classrooms, provide support for...
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...the importance of perceptions of competence and control for promoting academic engage-...
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...3This study of students' experiences of high school (Davidson and Phelan, 1999) followed...
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...48 students in four urban high schools in two large California school districts over a 2-year...
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...period. Students were selected to represent the diversity of race/ethnicity and academic perfor-...
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...vations, and shadowing of a subsample of students. The study focused on conditions in...
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...classes and schools that affected students' engagement and success....
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...ENGAGING SCHOOLS...
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...bracing a notion of ability that is stable and that limits the effects of effort...
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...on performance, they do so more than people in the Asian countries that...
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...have been studied (Chen and Stevenson, 1995; Stevenson and Stigler, 19921....
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...ability has little hope for success and therefore little reason to try....
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...students of color. Steele and his colleagues have shown repeatedly that...
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...high-achieving African-American students, as well as Latino students and...
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...Gonzales, Blanton, and Williams, 2002; Steele and Aronson, 1995, 19981....
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...years of failure in school that many urban high school students have expe-...
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...expectations for success in any academic subject, and consequently perva-...
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...(I'm good at math, but not in foreign languages), and they can certainly...
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...because they interpret feedback and their own performance outcomes...
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...through this lens. A student who believes she is smart and expects to...
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...ability, and poor performance, when it occurs, to low effort or a poor...
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...on a test to his low ability and success to luck or an easy test. Such attribu-...
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...expectations in students who have had years of failure experiences in school...
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...and have come to believe they lack the capacity to succeed....
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...well in school. Studies have shown that low effort for some students also...
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...THE NATURE AND CONDITIONS OF ENGAGEMENT...
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...can be traced to a failure to understand what it takes to succeed (Skinner et...
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...consistently applied. Even when the rules are clear and consistent, some...
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...students need help to understand them....
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...Students' beliefs about their competencies and expectations for success...
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...emotions that promote or interfere with engagement in schoolwork. Stu-...
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...dents who have negative views of their competence and low expectations...
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...for success are more anxious in learning contexts and fearful of revealing...
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...their ignorance (Abu-Hilal, 2000; Bandalos, Yates, and Thorndike-Christ,...
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...and humiliation, and are thus reluctant to ask questions even when they are...
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...confused (Newman and Goldin, 1990; Ryan and Pintrich, 19971. Some-...
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...doing it"; Covington, Spratt, and Omelich, 19801....
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...Self-confidence and expectations for success also affect academic inter-...
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...ests and values. In one study of a diverse group of middle school students,...
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...perceptions of competence; MacIver, Stipek, and Daniels, 19911. Similarly,...
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...Jacobs, Lanza, Osgood, Eccles, and Wigfield (2002) found, in a longitudi-...
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...work. Students enjoy academic tasks more and learn more when they fee!...
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...competent (Gottfried, 1990; Harter, 1992) and when they expect success...
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...(Bandura, 1993, 1997; Pajares, 1996; Schunk, 19951. Feelings of compe-...
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...tence give them a feeling of personal control, which has been shown to be...
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...critical for enjoyment, effort, and actual learning (deCharms, 1976, 1984;...
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...Deci and Ryan, 1985; Ryan and Deci, 2000a)....
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...Values and Goals (I Want to)...
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...Even if students believe they can succeed in school, they won't exert...
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...reasons for engaging in academic work, and typically there is a complex set...
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...real pleasure in learning, or she may have internalized the values of learning...
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...and getting a good education. Some reasons for doing academic work are...
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...weakly, if at all, connected to learning and academic achievement. For...
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...example, a student may not enjoy schoolwork or value education, but may...
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...see high school graduation as a means to achieving a long-term goal, such...
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...ENGAGING SCHOOLS...
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...which they fee! self-determining and autonomous versus coerced and con-...
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...trolled, has important implications for the quality of their effort and their...
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...learning. We will elaborate below on the implications of various reasons...
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...high school students might have to be engaged in academic work....
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...Ideally, students take pleasure in learning. They engage in academic...
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...work because they are interested in the topic and take pride in their achieve-...
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...ments. The advantages of intrinsic motivation have been shown in many...
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...studies, although not specifically involving urban high school youth. For...
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...interested to seek challenging tasks (Pittman, Emery, and Boggiano, 1982),...
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...think more creatively (Amabile and Hennessey, 1992), exert effort (Downey...
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...and Ainsworth-Darnell, 2002; Miserandino, 1996), and learn at a concep-...
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...tual level (Ryan, Connell, and Plant, 19901....
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...or activity because they have adopted values related to schooling. They...
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...believe it is important to work hard in school and get an education not to...
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...there is evidence that students who believe in the importance of school are...
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...(Taylor, Casten, Flickinger, Roberts, and Fulmore, 19941....
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...When children observe significant others expressing and modeling particu-...
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...lar values, such as trying hard in school, and when they are recognized and...
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...as their own and behave in ways consistent with them (Cornell and Well-...
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...THE NATURE AND CONDITIONS OF ENGAGEMENT...
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...born, 1991; Downey and Ainsworth-Darnell, 2002; Ryan, Connell, and...
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...Groinick, 1992; Ryan and Deci, 2000a; Ryan and La Guardia, 19991. The...
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...tonomous they feel, and the more they voluntarily persist in the face of...
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...challenge and in the absence of immediate rewards....
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...Students who spend their time with adults and peers who devalue school...
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...and who are not encouraged and reinforced for their efforts on schoolwork...
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...any tangible return to schooling (For~ham, 1988; Ogbu, 1992, 1997;...
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...Osborne, 1995, 19971. Ogbu and others propose that African-American...
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...youth do not expect their own success in school to be rewarded with jobs...
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...and higher incomes. According to the theory, the youth buffer themselves...
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...values and by developing a strong identity with their own race that is...
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...However, there is evidence that connects beliefs about the potential...
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...tions of social injustice and discrimination have been associated with low...
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...engagement and persistence in school, and perceptions of opportunities and...
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...connections between effort in school and success in the workplace have...
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...been associated with high engagement and persistence (Fine, 1991;...
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...Extrinsic Goals and Incentives...
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...Students also may become engaged in schoolwork because they see...
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...courses and activities in school as having some utility value. Succeeding in...
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...activity itself. The most prominent extrinsic rewards in school are good...
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...grades and social recognition. Ideally, such forms of extrinsic motivators...
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...effort in school. Realistically, however, external incentives are powerful...
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...ENGAGING SCHOOLS...
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...tial proportion of students in urban high schools serving economically...
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...rewards are within their reach and have value....
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...Long-term goals can also be important. For example, understanding chem-...
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...istry and biology would have considerable utility value for a student aspiring...
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...Longitudinal Study (NELS) data conducted by Downey and Ainsworth-...
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...that school is a means to long-term goals. Tenth-grade students of all ethnic...
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...job later on" were rated by teachers as less disruptive and exerting more...
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...effort, and reported that they spent relatively more time on homework. Educa-...
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...tional and occupational aspirations also predict mobility and dropping out,...
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...time perspective, and an understanding of the links between immediate...
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...tasks and long-term goals (Husman and Lens, 19991. It also requires a...
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...belief that the goals are linked to school, and that they are genuinely obtain-...
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...Research on urban high school youth suggests that they are often poorly...
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...informed about the utility value of particular high school courses and ac-...
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...of knowledge about what is required to achieve their educational and pro-...
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...occur if they do not do the work. Policies such as making scholarships and...
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...a driver's license contingent on staying in school, making participation in...
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...scholarships to motivate students to work hard and complete high school....
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...students who complete high school with at least a B average and enroll at...
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...Futures" scholarships. "I Have a Dream," "Gear-Up," and "Project...
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...toring, tutoring, enrichment programs, and college visits. The effects of the...
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...THE NATURE AND CONDITIONS OF ENGAGEMENT...
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...the already large racial and socioeconomic-level gaps in college atten-...
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...expense of widening the gap between Blacks and whites as well as between...
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...low- and high-income families (Dynarski, 2000, also see Cornwell and...
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...Extrinsic rewards for intellectual engagement may be effective, and for...
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...used cautiously and no more than necessary. The effects are often superfi-...
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...cial they promote compliance (showing up, getting the work done), but...
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...exert effort when tasks are difficult, and they do not take on challenging...
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...and Henderiong, 2000; Ryan and Deci, 2000b; Stipek, 2002, for reviews)....
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...negative long-term consequences on attitudes toward school and toward...
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...learning (it's just to achieve the reward). Furthermore, when students are...
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...(deCharms, 1976, 1984; Deci and Ryan, 1985; Ryan and Deci, 2000a)....
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...Reliance on "carrot and stick" approaches can be particularly prob-...
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...rewards typically available in schools, and may want to appear independent...
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...rather than compliant. The promise of good grades and the threat of bad...
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...ENGAGING SCHOOLS...
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...able are often necessary. However, they should not be the only strategy for...
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...Sociologists have long promoted the value of "communality" and col-...
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...to schools. Students who fee! disrespected or socially isolated are not likely...
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...to function effectively at school, and they may simply leave to seek more...
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...cally connected to school is not sufficient for meaningful engagement in...
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...academic work, it is probably necessary for many students. Bryk, Lee, and...
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...sonal support, such as community, religious institutions, and extended fam-...
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...school and learning, the urban high school students interviewed by...
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...Davidson and Phelan (1999) focused on caring adults. Half of the students...
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...referred to the importance of meaningful relationships with adults and...
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...teachers who showed an interest in them as individuals (see also Davidson,...
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...students claimed that they would learn a lot more if their teachers "person-...
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...ally cared about his students as people." (Only 30 percent claimed that...
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...Students who quit school before graduation frequently report that they...
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...and the direction of causality has not been definitively established. Never-...
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...theless, many correlational studies have shown that students who report...
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...caring and supportive interpersonal relationships in school have more posi-...
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...tive academic attitudes and values and are more satisfied with school (Baker,...
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...1999; Battistich, Solomon, Kim, Watson, and Schaps, 1995; Ryan and...
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...Deci, 2000a; Shouse, 1996a; Skinner and Belmont, 1993; Wasley et al.,...
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...(Cornell and Weliborn, 1991) and they attend school more and learn more...
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...(Bryk and Driscoll, 1988; Bryk, Lee, and Holland, 19931....
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...Some experimental studies with college students by Baumeister and...
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...colleagues (Baumeister, Twenge, and Nuss, 2002; Twenge, Catanese, and...
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...THE NATURE AND CONDITIONS OF ENGAGEMENT...
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...is crucial to cognitive engagement. Their work shows strong negative ef-...
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...and self-regulation (Twenge et al., 20021. Stucly participants who were...
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...macle to fee! socially exclucleci or rejected showed a clecline in cognitive test...
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...performance (on IQ tests and the ORE), as well as an increase in self-...
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...clefeating behavior like taking irrational risks and procrastinating. Such...
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...finclings are powerful because of the studies' experimental designs, and may...
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...Ferguson (2002) founci in his large survey of high school students that...
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...African-Americans were particularly responsive to teachers who showed...
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...that they cared about their learning. When asked why they worked hard...
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...and higher than the proportion of African-American students who claimed...
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...In aclolescence feeling connected and accepted by peers in school may...
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...shows the critical role that positive, supportive peer relationships play in...
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...aclolescents' mental health and well-being (e.g., Berncit, 1996; Parker,...
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...Rubin, Price, and DeRosier, 19951. Although studies have not specifically...
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...connected peer relationships to engagement in school, inasmuch as they...
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...clents' ability to be constructively engaged in learning. Close relationships...
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...to other students is also likely to promote attachment to school....
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...A sense of belonging involves an identification with the values and...
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...goals ot schooling as well as a teeilng of connecteciness to others in the...
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...school, both students and teachers. Thus students whose values and culture...
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...conflict with those of the institution, or who see schoolwork as meaning-...
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...ethnic identity and the ethnicity of the students in the school and their...
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...classes. Davicison's (1996) intensive stucly of 55 students in urban schools...
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...themselves and limited their participation because they clicin't fee! like they...
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...feel better when there's more diversity because there's different people...
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...ENGAGING SCHOOLS...
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...To summarize, the effects of high school contexts on student engage-...
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...especially beliefs about competencies and control, values and goals, and...
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...need to consider the effects of policies and practices on these psychological...
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...tions that promote positive beliefs, values, and a feeling of belonging....
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...ENGAGING LEARNING CONTEXTS...
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...Research on both school and out-of-school contexts provides substan-...
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...the achievement motivation literature about the qualities of engaging learn-...
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...strong empirical support and broad applicability, although many of the...
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...summarize briefly is reviewed extensively in Brophy (1998), Pintrich and...
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...Schunk (1996), and Stipek (20021....
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...Promoting Perceptions of Competence and Control...
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...competence and control over achievement outcomes. Tasks that are chal-...
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...competence when they are given easy work, and they certainly do not...
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...learning is an active process, and learners' preexisting knowledge, skills,...
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...beliefs, and concepts influence how they make sense of new information...
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...(National Research Council, 19991. If preexisting levels of skills and under-...
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...standing are not considered, students will transform and distort new infor-...
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...mation according to what they already understand....
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...siderable skill and is difficult to implement in a classroom of students with...
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...varying skill levels. Teaching that produces meaningful gains in skills and...
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...understandings requires assessing students' understanding frequently and...
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...in different ways, and building on students' incomplete or naive under-...
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...standings and false beliefs....
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...THE NATURE AND CONDITIONS OF ENGAGEMENT...
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...ot a context that supports students' self-confidence and the belief that their...
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...and Harold, 1992; see Chapter 5, this volume). Many studies show that...
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...schools in which students achieve high levels of performance have high...
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...expectations for student learning and hold students to high standards...
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...(Baker, Terry, Bridger, and Winsor, 1997; Evans, 1997; Lambert and...
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...McCombs, 1998; Lee et al., 1993; Lee and Smith, 1999; Marks, Doane,...
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...and Secada, in press; Phillips, 19971. Phillips (1997) found that the level of...
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..."academic press" (offering demanding curricula and having high expecta-...
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...tions for learning, without pressuring performance or undermining au-...
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...tonomy) was a more powerful predictor of student learning than was the...
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...searchers have concluded that a focus on learning partly explains why...
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...students attending Catholic schools perform better academically, even when...
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...student in the Davidson and Phelan (1999, p. 249) study of urban youth...
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...But studies suggest that subtle and even counterintuitive responses to stu-...
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...believes they did the best they could do and are not capable of doing better...
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...they hadn't tried and were capable of a better performance....
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...expectations for their learning was a strong predictor of how responsibly...
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...they engaged in their academic work, how helpful they were to classmates,...
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...how interested they were in class, and how much they desired to learn....
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...Rutter, Maughan, Mortimore, Ouston, and Smith (1979) also provide cor-...
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...that schools with a high degree of consensus on goals and enforcement of...
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...attendance and student participation and the lowest levels of delinquency....
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...Most high school students do not fee! particularly pressured to do well...
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...in school. A recent national representative survey of more than 2,000 stu-...
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...dents asked them: "Overall how much do teachers encourage you to do...
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...percent in the 7th and 8th grades to 36 percent in the 11th and 12th grades....
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...ENGAGING SCHOOLS...
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...were also more likely to claim that their teachers expected their schoolwork...
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...Surveys also show that high school students want to be challenged. In a...
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...telephone survey of 1,000 randomly selected public high school students,...
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...66 percent claimed that they would learn a lot more if their teachers would...
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..."challenge students to constantly do better and learn more." Only 33 per-...
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...to 63 percent of white students) claimed they would learn more if their...
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...you're gonna be nobody, you're going to take that in and you're going to...
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...Many researchers have documented low expectations and standards in...
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...schools serving low-income children (Hallinger, Bickman, and Davis, 1996;...
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...Hallinger and Murphy, 1986; Leithwood, Begley, and Cousins, 1990), and...
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...ing, they often describe teachers who hold them to high standards and...
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...provide the support to achieve those standards ("he just sticks with you all...
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...the way till you get something right"; Davidson and Phelan, 1999, p.249),...
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...and they complain about teachers who don't seem to care whether they...
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...learn. One urban high school student laments: "I give up on my test or...
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...homework because I don't understand it. When the teacher comes around...
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...to collect it, I put it in my book bag and no one notices that I didn't hand it...
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...whites are all in the good neighborhoods and stuff" (p. 411. A Mexican-...
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...talks about people that will end up on the streets . . . and then he turns and...
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...THE NATURE AND CONDITIONS OF ENGAGEMENT...
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...looks at all the Mexicans. I want to get up and tell him off or just walk out"...
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...McLaughlin and Talbert (2001) documented teachers' behavior in...
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...schools in which the population of students had shifted from relatively...
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...They found that many teachers lowered their expectations and watered...
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...about their low skills and motivation. A third group of teachers showed an...
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...effective response; they built on students' current skills and level of under-...
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...standing while pushing them hard to master the high school curriculum....
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...Many students who enter high school with very low skills need extra...
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...educational resources such as tutoring and summer- or after-school pro-...
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...grams to develop their skills and confidence. Although all students should...
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...be able to master the basic high school curriculum, some require substan-...
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...tially more assistance and time. Without additional support, they will have...
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...feelings of incompetence, and they will not want to engage in intellectual...
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...not fee! punitive and interfere with opportunities to engage in other activi-...
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...ties, such as sports and jobs....
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...A third critical area related to students' perceptions of competence and...
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...control is evaluation. Evaluation is pervasive in high school and affects each...
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...competence and future expectations is enormous. The research evidence...
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...provement, and achieving goals or standards, and it should provide specific...
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...and useful feedback that can guide future efforts (see Stipek, 2002, for a...
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...Promoting Academic Values and Goals...
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...who express their own commitment to education, and (3) being encouraged...
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...by others, including teachers, counselors, and peers, to seek and take ad-...
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...ENGAGING SCHOOLS...
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...and classroom studies tell us a great deal about the specific practices that...
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...critical ingredient. Students are more likely to want to do schoolwork when...
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...and in the strategies they use to complete tasks (Cordova and Lepper, 1996;...
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...Deci, Nezlek, and Sheinman, 1981; Eccles, Early, Fraser, Belansky, and...
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...McCarthy, 1997; Guthrie, Wigfield, and VonSecker, 2000; Iyengar and...
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...Lepper, 1999; see Ryan and La Guardia, 19991. These findings are consis-...
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...tent with sociological theory and organizational studies suggesting that...
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...phasis on rewards and other extrinsic reasons for engaging in an activity...
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...can undermine intrinsic interest in the activity (see reviews by Cameron and...
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...Pierce, 1994; Deci and Ryan, 1985; Kohn, 1993; Ryan and Deci, 2000b;...
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...Tang and Hall, 19951. For example, reminding students that they need to...
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...pointing out what they will learn, focuses their attention on the extrinsic...
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...reasons for doing schoolwork and thus promotes the feeling that they are...
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...to know the criteria for evaluation and the consequences of their behavior,...
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...and some students may need extrinsic incentives to get started. But constant...
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...reminders of the extrinsic consequences of their behavior are usually unnec-...
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...essary and are likely to undermine high levels of cognitive engagement....
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...articulated by some of the urban youth interviewed by Davidson and Phelan...
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...demic options or ability to make decisions, rigid and distrustful teachers,...
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...and teachers who did not encourage students to express their perspectives...
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...and opinions in class. One student suggested that authoritarian policies...
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...think people are more rebellious. Because he won't trust you with any-...
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...Giving students some choice and autonomy is not the same as eliminat-...
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...ing structure. To the contrary, students need to have limits, and choices...
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...structuring students' learning experiences was made clear by the urban...
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...tions, they reported that they often skipped school and did not do their...
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...THE NATURE AND CONDITIONS OF ENGAGEMENT...
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...Referring back longingly to elementary school, one student explained,...
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..."teachers made sure we finished our homework and made sure we turned it...
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...in" (p. 18 ). Some students complained that in contrast to elementary school,...
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...their high school teachers said little when they didn't do their work, and...
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...classes and it was too late to make up the work. Ninth graders may require...
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...more attention than students in the later grades of high school, but many...
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...older students also need assistance and support in completing their work....
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...Research also provides evidence on what makes learning experiences...
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...more enjoyable, thus motivating to students. Making school more interest-...
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...ing and fun may be a powerful strategy for engaging students or at least...
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...school (37 percent) and dropping out of school (76 percent) was that...
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..."school was boring." A summary follows of the particular qualities of...
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...activities that engage students' interest and enthusiasm (see also Stipek,...
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...20021. It is noteworthy, and probably not coincidental, that these same...
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...qualities have been shown by cognitive scientists to promote deep, concep-...
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...tual understanding (see National Research Council, 19991....
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...Research on learning shows that students become cognitively engaged...
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...understand for example, by being required to explain their reasoning,...
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...defend their conclusions, or explore alternative strategies and solutions...
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...being unengaged in schoolwork, many of the economically disadvantaged...
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...students in the Davidson and Phelan (1999) study complained that they had...
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...little opportunity to convey or address conceptual misunderstandings. After...
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...smart in math until I got her and I got stupid" (Davidson, 1999, p. 355~. In...
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...dent explained: "You ask him a question, and he . . . gives you the clues,...
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...and then you have to figure it out yourself.... I like that, because he makes...
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...you think" (Phelan, Davidson, and Yu, 1998, p. 1361....
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...feelings of competence, also has been shown to promote greater interest...
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...and enjoyment. Research evidence contradicts a common stereotype of...
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...ENGAGING SCHOOLS...
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...each task they were given on how skillful they were in completing the task,...
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...how challenging the task was, and how they felt about the task. They...
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...both their skills and challenge as high. When level of challenge was rated as...
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...engaged. Accountability and a focus on learning were also important. In...
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...classes rated as high in challenge and high in intrinsic motivation were more...
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...likely to hold students accountable for understanding....
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...In another study, high school students rated classes that challenged...
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...ratings of the level of challenge and the degree to which high-order thinking...
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...interesting and worthwhile class they took in the past year and the class...
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...Students enjoy and exert more effort when they are active participants...
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...to participate in debate and role playing rather than listen to a lecture; or to...
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...create a mode! and complete projects rather than answer questions about...
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...how a process works (Davidson, 1999; Guthrie et al., 2000; Mitchell,...
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...19931. In the Public Agenda (1997) telephone survey of 1,000 high school...
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...students, 67 percent claimed that they would learn a lot more if their...
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...teachers used "hands-on projects and class discussion," compared to 14...
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...percent who claimed they would learn more if their teachers lectured....
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...the textbook and workbooks they often used. A prominent theme was...
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...being able to work autonomously and take pride in their achievement: "you...
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...learn more by doing something on your own" (p.381; "you fee! more proud...
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...THE NATURE AND CONDITIONS OF ENGAGEMENT...
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...Davidson and Phelan (1999) study explained:...
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.... . . we read, read, read and that's all we do. It's like every week it's the...
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...same routine. On Mondays you come in and do your vocab definitions....
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...And then Tuesdays you read the story, Wednesday keep on reading the...
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...story, Thursday answer the questions, and Friday you do a test.... It's...
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...discussions of the stories that we read and have group work. That would...
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...compared to 28 in her science class, which involved more active learning....
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page 51...
...the chapters . . . repeat the same questions over and over again, like when...
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...they explain something they do the question and then you have to do about...
In the middle of
page 51...
...was asked how he would change math lessons in his class, he said he would:...
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...you get a problem and you have to solve it just a variety" (p. 371....
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...Most students enjoy working together (Davidson, 1999; Johnson and...
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...students' engagement in the learning process can be enhanced by allowing...
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...them to work in pairs or small groups on activities that require sharing and...
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...eration. Furthermore, it helps create a community of learners who have...
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...responsibility for each other's learning, rather than a competitive environ-...
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...One challenge to successfully implementing a collaborative learning...
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...typically do more talking and often control the group tasks in a collabora-...
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...tive learning activity, while the low-status students will have a hard time...
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...ENGAGING SCHOOLS...
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...them (Cohen, 19971. Cohen and Lotan (1997) address these "status condi-...
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...mode! of pedagogy that involves students actively and equitably in mean-...
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...(3) bolstering group interdependence and enforcing individual accountabil-...
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...ity; and (4) connecting activities through central concepts and big ideas of...
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...the disciplines (Lotan, 1997, p. 1071. In this mode! of collaborative learn-...
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...Classroom," which has been shown to improve the learning, engagement,...
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...and enjoyment of low-performing students at all grade levels (Aronson,...
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...Stephan, Sikes, Blaney, and Snapp, 19781. The mode! creates interdepen-...
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...Meaningful Connections to Students' Culture and Lives Outside School...
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...Students enjoy learning more, and they learn better, when topics are...
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...personally interesting and related to their lives (Meece, l 991). A high school...
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...students' experiences: "when we began To Kill ~ Mockingbird, I asked...
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...them to remember their childhood and was there anyone on their block...
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...they were afraid of" (McLaughlin and Talbert, 2001, p.281. A math teacher...
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...Billy Idol.... And I get a 90 percent return rate on homework" (p. 291....
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...thing of personal interest. Another strategy for making schoolwork more...
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...relevant and interesting is to invite students to express opinions. Describing...
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...a class that she found particularly engaging, one urban high school student...
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...explained, "Like if you read something and everyone interprets it differ-...
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...ently, she Ethe teacher] wants to hear everyone's opinion.... You learn...
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...different points of view and how to analyze different things.... It's not just...
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...memorizing facts and then spitting them back to the teacher" (Davidson,...
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...Providing opportunities for students to take responsibility and engage...
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...personal meaningfulness of school (McLaughlin, 20001. As one adolescent...
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...commented on the experience of community service:...
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...THE NATURE AND CONDITIONS OF ENGAGEMENT...
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...have a job].... You've got to be there on time, work hard at it, and get...
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...cents interpret as caring. She asked students: "How do you know when a...
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...teacher cares about you?" and "How do you know when a teacher does not...
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...scribed teachers who tried to make classes interesting; who talked and...
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page 53...
...listened to them; who were honest, fair, and trusting; and who showed...
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page 53...
...ing sure they understood what was being taught, and asking them if some-...
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...insulted, or yelled at students; and who showed little interest in them per-...
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...thing wrong, and not trying to explain something when the student didn't...
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...understand. In a second study by Wentze! (2002), students' perceptions of...
In the middle of
page 53...
...how fair their teacher was predicted their interest and enjoyment and their...
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page 53...
...desire to learn. Negative feedback (e.g., scolding) was associated with low...
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...engagement in the form of disruptive behavior and violation of rules....
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...to feeling connected to school. He cites studies suggesting substantial ineq-...
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...uities related to race and income in some schools in expectations, quality of...
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page 53...
...instruction, and due process. Such inequities are likely to disengage stu-...
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...ment by teachers and counselors based on race are also less likely to value...
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...school (Roeser, Eccles, and Sameroff, 19981....
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...In the Davidson and Phelan (1999) study, students stressed two...
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...types of teacher behaviors that were important to them learning some-...
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...thing about their lives outside of school and communicating directly and...
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...stopping to clarify a point when a student appeared confused and asking...
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...why they had missed school. One student noted, "You go in and you're not...
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...there for a day and they notice and they say, 'Why are you tardy?' And they...
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...school students were asked what advice they would give to a new teacher:...
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...ENGAGING SCHOOLS...
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...understand? he's just teaching it to us. He sees that a couple of students...
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...understand it and he moves on. He doesn't make a space for us to ask" (p....
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...tance between teacher and student. Another theme in their comments con-...
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...cerned fair and respectful disciplinary practices that included student input....
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...ethnic background is similar to that of other students. Finn and Voelk!...
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...the school community (quality of teacher-student relationships and whether...
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...the school has "real school spirit") more positively when they attended...
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...schools with relatively high proportions of minorities. Using a nationally...
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page 54...
...stratified sample of high school students (AddHealth), Johnson et al. (2001)...
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...similarly found that students reported greater attachment to school (feeling...
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...close to people at school, feeling a part of their school) when they attended...
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...schools with proportionally more students of their own race. School racial...
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...composition was not, however, associated with students' reports of their...
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...they are treated fairly and with respect, and in which adults show they care...
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...about them as people. One way that students judge how much teachers care...
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...is by whether they hold them to high expectations and make an effort to...
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...ensure they are learning....
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...No teacher, however good or committed, can engage students in aca-...
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...demic work in a school context that does not support the kinds of practices...
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...described in this chapter (see Chapter 41. Feelings of incompetence and no...
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...THE NATURE AND CONDITIONS OF ENGAGEMENT...
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...students (Tschannen-Moran, Hoy, and Hoy, 19981. To protect their own...
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...capacity, unsupportive homes, and lack of resources. Some teachers give up...
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...hope and stop trying. School administrators need to apply what is known...
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...about maintaining confidence and feelings of control and belonging in...
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...school organization and policies. For example, tracking diminishes stu-...
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...dents' choices and the access of relatively low-skilled students to peers with...
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...positive academic values. Highly competitive school environments in which...
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...belonging in schools that are organized in ways that make it difficult for...
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...teachers to know and develop personal relationships with students, or in...
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...schools that tolerate racism or bullying. Schools that do not promote a...
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...sense of community and shared purpose among teachers are not likely to...
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...provide clear expectations and goals or to promote a sense of connected-...
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...ness and belonging among students. If teachers spend all of their workday...
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...appropriately challenging and culturally meaningful instruction and activi-...
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...ties that involve collaboration and higher order thinking. Teaching that...
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...teaching that many teachers resort to because of the other demands on their...
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...School policies also affect the degree to which students fee! encouraged...
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...and supported in their learning. For example, a policy of contacting parents...
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...for students who fall behind, and helping students gain access to commu-...
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...nity resources to meet basic physical and psychological needs conveys to...
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...students that people care about them and want them to learn. Efforts to...
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...make school a comfortable and accessible place for parents are also impor-...
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...therefore must involve the whole school. We elaborate on school-level...
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...policies and practices in Chapter 4....
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...BEYOND THE SCHOOL...
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...Student motivation is affected by policies made beyond the school as...
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...well as in the school. For example, policies at the state or district level...
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...related to curricula, textbooks, and resources for science laboratories and...
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...ENGAGING SCHOOLS...
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...Recent policies that promote greater accountability and stricter stan-...
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...graduate, and 7 more had committed to implementing graduation exams...
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...wide exam as a condition for grade promotion, and four more were in the...
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...process of implementing this policy. Other states (e.g., Alabama and Florida)...
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...on failure to attend school or poor academic performance (Martinez and...
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...Bray, 20021. Similar policies have been implemented by a number of school...
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...districts, including New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Boston....
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...tion or graduation on student motivation and engagement, and research...
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...1994; Jacob, 20011. The evidence is clear, however, that they increase the...
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...likelihood of retention (Jacob, 2001; McDill, Natriello, and Pallas, 1986;...
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...Roderick and Engel, 20011. For example, during the 1999-2000 school...
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...high schools could not read well enough to learn at the high school level. In...
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...an effort to rectify this problem, Boston Public Schools required, for the...
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...during the school year to be promoted to 10th grade, more than one-third...
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...formance (Alexander, Entiwisle, and Dauber, 1994; McCoy and Reynolds,...
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...1999; Pierson and Connell, 1992; Sheppard and Smith, 1989), and virtually...
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...(Balfanz, McPartland, and Shaw, 2002; Fine, 1991; Goldschmidt and Wang,...
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...1999; Grissom and Shepard, 1989; Jimerson, 1999; Kaufman and Bradby,...
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...1992; Neild and Balfanz, 2001; Roderick, 1994; Roderick, Nagaoka,...
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...Bacon, and Easton, 2000; Rumberger, 1995; Rumberger and Larson, 19981....
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...grades 1 to 8 were four times more likely to drop out between grades 8 and...
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...THE NATURE AND CONDITIONS OF ENGAGEMENT...
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...economic status, eighth-grade school performance, and a host of back-...
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...ground and school factors....
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...Emerging evidence suggests that exams required for entering and gradu-...
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...ating from high school may also promote dropping out (Balfanz and Letgers,...
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...Education, Division of Assessment and Accountability, 2001~. In Chicago...
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page 57...
...stakes testing appear to be stronger for students of color (Balfanz and...
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...In addition to their more direct effects on student engagement and...
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...motivation, school accountability and high-stakes testing can have indirect...
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...effects on students through their teachers. A study of school reform in a...
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...Texas school district (Berends, Chun et al., 2002) indicates that high-stakes...
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...testing can undermine the willingness and ability of teachers to engage...
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...students in meaningful learning. This occurs because teachers fee! com-...
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...of isolated facts and skills rather than conceptual understanding and critical...
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...thinking. In an effort to raise test scores, some schools are imposing double-...
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...period test preparation sessions and requiring teachers to "teach to the...
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...are perceptions of competence and control. Most likely, high-stakes testing...
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...high school diploma may lead them to exert more effort on schoolwork...
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...and Engel, 2001), but only if they believe they have the capacity to succeed....
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...These positive effects, however, may come at the expense of students...
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...performing at the lowest level. As Roderick and Enge! (2001, p. 221)...
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...of the most vulnerable." Many students, especially in urban schools in...
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...economically disadvantaged communities, have experienced years of failure...
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...in school, and their skills lag far behind even minimal standards. Simply...
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...asking them to achieve higher standards without providing them with the...
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...assistance and support they need is more likely to discourage than to moti-...
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...vate them. Research on motivation has shown clearly that people do not...
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...ENGAGING SCHOOLS...
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...contrary, a perception that success is out of reach leads to helplessness and...
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...Standards and high expectations are critical, but they must be genu-...
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...endorsement of challenging work and high standards does not imply en-...
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...dorsement of high-stakes testing. If it is implemented, however, it is essen-...
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...tial that it is accompanied by a great deal of support and resources devoted...
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...to helping students achieve the standards. We base our conclusion prima-...
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...ing students (Roderick and Engel, 20011. Raising standards without pro-...
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...likely to be observed in schools serving the students who need them most....
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...Many developmental studies have shown substantial declines in achieve-...
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...ment motivation and engagement in learning as children progress through...
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...school (Jacobs et al., 2002; Stipek and MacIver, 19891. Steinberg, Brown,...
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...and Dornbusch (1996) also found a decline from 7th to 9th grade in the...
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...number of students who claimed to fee! a part of their school or close to...
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...people at their school. Perhaps not coincidentally, studies comparing edu-...
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...most powerful in adolescence school environments usually become more...
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...controlling (Eccles and Midgley, 19891. Perhaps this is why all of the 56...
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...school teacher when asked who their favorite teacher was. Furthermore,...
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...the schools serving adolescents who are at greatest risk of becoming seri-...
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...ously disengaged from school are the most likely to be large, impersonal,...
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...and highly controlling, and to convey low expectations for academic suc-...
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...Although examples of schools that promote high levels of engagement...
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...and achievement for low-income youth and students of color are few and...
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...THE NATURE AND CONDITIONS OF ENGAGEMENT...
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...percent claimed that the statement "I really want to learn" applied to them....
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...about doing well in school (MetLife, 20021. The remaining chapters in this...
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...volume give further guidance for creating high schools that maintain stu-...
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...dents' desire to learn and to succeed by showing how the general principles...
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...of motivating contexts described here look in real schools....
A total of pages of uncorrected, machine-read text were searched in this chapter. Please note that the searchable text may be scanned, uncorrected text, and should be presumed inaccurate. Page images should be used as the authoritative version.