The ABCs of student engagement  

The principal of a large, urban middle school enters Ms. Cecil’s 7th-grade classroom during a social studies lesson. One by one, students read a paragraph aloud from the textbook. Between readers, Ms. Cecil asks literal recall questions to random students. If students don’t answer accurately, Ms. Cecil reprimands them for not paying attention. At the end of the chapter, students dutifully get out a piece of paper, each writing her/his name and the date neatly in the right-hand corner of the page. One student asks his neighbor for a piece of paper, and Ms. Cecil quickly calls him to her desk where she scolds him for not being prepared and for talking without permission. Ms. Cecil directs students to follow their routine and complete the comprehension questions at the end of the chapter. She encourages them to cover their answers. The principal leaves the class wondering how Ms. Cecil is able to keep all her students on-task almost all the time. Most teachers in the school have difficulty with management and keeping students engaged.  

Student engagement is receiving a lot of attention lately — and rightly so. Students need to be actively engaged in order to achieve (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris, 2004). But engagement declines as students progress through the elementary grades to middle school. That makes it important for educators of all grade levels to understand engagement, how to facilitate it, and how to assess it.