student engagement

3 critical things to know about boosting student engagement


In order to have maximum student engagement across all groups, it's necessary for schools to understand a few key concepts

Engaging high school students in learning and breaking away from the typical boredom that seems to plague so many students is a challenge–one that could be addressed differently depending on a student’s dominant mode of engagement.

To figure out the best ways to engage different groups of students, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute worked with a research team headed by Crux Research president and founder John Geraci. The result is What Teens Want From Their Schools: A National Survey of High School Student Engagement. The research team surveyed a nationally representative sample of 2,000 students in grades 10-12 to gather information for the report.

Research efforts explored topics such as participants’ backgrounds and characteristics, school and classroom experiences, and overall educational preferences. Students were placed into their groups according to the factor on which they scored highest.

The research identifies six different subgroups of students, and each group has a different engagement profile.

(Next page: Six student groups and key ways to engage them)

Laura Ascione

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