The concept of school engagement has attracted increasing attention as representing a possible antidote to declining academic motivation and achievement. Engagement is presumed to be malleable, responsive to contextual features, and amenable to environmental change. Researchers describe behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement and recommend studying engagement as a multifaceted construct. This article reviews definitions, measures, precursors, and outcomes of engagement; discusses limitations in the existing research; and suggests improvements. The authors conclude that, although much has been learned, the potential contribution of the concept of school engagement to research on student experience has yet to be realized. They call for richer characterizations of how students behave, feel, and think—research that could aid in the development of finely tuned interventions

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/3516061.pdf

School Engagement: Potential of the Concept, State of the Evidence

Attachment--and loss.

A meta-analytic approach was used to investigate the associations between affective qualities of teacher–student relationships (TSRs) and students’ school engagement and achievement. Results were based on 99 studies, including students from preschool to high school. Separate analyses were conducted for positive relationships and engagement (k = 61 studies, N = 88,417 students), negative relationships and engagement (k = 18, N = 5,847), positive relationships and achievement (k = 61, N = 52,718), and negative relationships and achievement (k = 28, N = 18,944). Overall, associations of both positive and negative relationships with engagement were medium to large, whereas associations with achievement were small to medium. Some of these associations were weaker, but still statistically significant, after correction for methodological biases. Overall, stronger effects were found in the higher grades. Nevertheless, the effects of negative relationships were stronger in primary than in secondary school.

/pdf/the-influence-of-affective-teacher-student-relationships-on-12s9sf1bbc.pdf

The Influence of Affective Teacher–Student Relationships on Students’ School Engagement and Achievement A Meta-Analytic Approach

The cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) is believed by many to overcome the problems associated with the use of cross-lagged correlations as a way to study causal influences in longitudinal panel data. The current article, however, shows that if stability of constructs is to some extent of a trait-like, time-invariant nature, the autoregressive relationships of the CLPM fail to adequately account for this. As a result, the lagged parameters that are obtained with the CLPM do not represent the actual within-person relationships over time, and this may lead to erroneous conclusions regarding the presence, predominance, and sign of causal influences. In this article we present an alternative model that separates the within-person process from stable between-person differences through the inclusion of random intercepts, and we discuss how this model is related to existing structural equation models that include cross-lagged relationships. We derive the analytical relationship between the cross-lagged parameters from the CLPM and the alternative model, and use simulations to demonstrate the spurious results that may arise when using the CLPM to analyze data that include stable, trait-like individual differences. We also present a modeling strategy to avoid this pitfall and illustrate this using an empirical data set. The implications for both existing and future cross-lagged panel research are discussed.

/pdf/a-critique-of-the-cross-lagged-panel-model-2c3o9j9n2x.pdf

A critique of the cross-lagged panel model.

This study examined ways in which children's risk of school failure may be moderated by support from teachers. Participants were 910 children in a national prospective study. Children were identified as at risk at ages 5-6 years on the basis of demographic characteristics and the display of multiple functional (behavioral, attention, academic, social) problems reported by their kindergarten teachers. By the end of first grade, at-risk students placed in first-grade classrooms offering strong instructional and emotional support had achievement scores and student-teacher relationships commensurate with their low-risk peers; at-risk students placed in less supportive classrooms had lower achievement and more conflict with teachers. These findings have implications for understanding the role that classroom experience may play in pathways to positive adaptation.

Can Instructional and Emotional Support in the First‐Grade Classroom Make a Difference for Children at Risk of School Failure?

http://epm.sagepub.com/content/69/3/493 The online version of this article can be found at: DOI: 10.1177/0013164408323233 14 November 2008 2009 69: 493 originally published online Educational and Psychological Measurement Ellen A. Skinner, Thomas A. Kindermann and Carrie J. Furrer Participation in Academic Activities in the Classroom Emotional Conceptualization and Assessment of Children's Behavioral and A Motivational Perspective on Engagement and Disaffection :

https://www.pdx.edu/psy/sites/www.pdx.edu.psy/files/Skinner%2C%20Kindermann%2C%20%26%20Furrer_EPM_2009_1.pdf

Participation in Academic Activities in the Classroom Emotional Conceptualization and Assessment of Children's Behavioral and A Motivational Perspective on Engagement and Disaffection :

/pdf/research-to-practice-brief-promising-evidence-that-early-38y61seo8b.pdf

Carrie J. Furrer

Papers

Participation in Academic Activities in the Classroom Emotional Conceptualization and Assessment of Children's Behavioral and A Motivational Perspective on Engagement and Disaffection :

Research-to-Practice Brief: Promising Evidence that Early Head Start Can Prevent Child Maltreatment