Re-Engaging Youth in School
Research, Practices and Promise
October 24, 2008
Changing Realities of Educating at Risk
Students
• Have to re-conceptualize youth transitions –
no longer linear – but navigating pathways
• Sequential movement through educational
process is not the norm
• We need to allow for reversible movements to
accommodate the complex transition process
of young people
(Ross & Gray, 2005)
Research on Dropping In
• According to NLSY – 50% of drop outs returned within
6 years to an educational setting (Ekstrom , 1987)
• The longer out of school time, the less likely to return
to school (Chuang, 1997)
• Effect of local unemployment rate – if high
unemployment in community more likely to return,
and have shorter duration of being out of school
(Chuang, 1997)
• Events that happen while out of school – marriage,
childbirth, employment seem to have no effect on
whether return to school (Chuang, 1997)
Research on Dropping In
• San Bernardino study – 1/3 of students try to
re-enroll (60% in original school)
• 18% of re-enrollees graduated from the
district
• 50% of re-enrollees drop out again after 1 year
(Berliner et al., 2008)
What is Engagement?
Behavioral engagement draws on the idea of participation; it
includes involvement in academic and social or
extracurricular activities and is considered crucial for
achieving positive academic outcomes and preventing
dropping out.
Emotional engagement encompasses positive and negative
reactions to teachers, classmates, academics, and school
and is presumed to create ties to an institution and
influences willingness to do the work.
Cognitive engagement draws on the idea of investment; it
incorporates thoughtfulness and willingness to exert the
effort necessary to comprehend complex ideas and master
difficult skills.
Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris (2004)
When students return to school
~ how do we re-engage them?
Typical Re-engagement Strategies
• Social control through behavior management
using extrinsic motivators such as rewards or
punishments
INSTEAD…
Adelman & Taylor 2008 recommend building
intrinsic motivation by increasing the
student’s expectations for success and
recognition of the value in learning
Re-Engage Youth with Strategies that…
• Enhance feelings of self-determination
• Develop feelings of competence and
expectations of success
• Support feelings of interpersonal relatedness
• Increase the range of interests and satisfactions
related to learning
(from Adelman & Taylor, 2008)
What does this mean for schools?
• Pull factors – persuasive, caring and persistent school
staff (Ross & Gray, 2005)
• Emphasize school ‘s “welcoming, caring and just”
environment (Adelman & Taylor, 2008)
• Tolerance for wider range of behavior (Berliner et al.,
2008)
• Rapid credit recovery for students in 9th and 10th grade
who are falling behind (Berliner et al., 2008)
• Change the automatic F grade to incomplete (Berliner
et al., 2008)
• Coordinate credit accrual plans for individual enrollees
(Berliner et al., 2008)
What does this mean for School
Districts?
• Reduce fragmentation in system to easily
accommodate re-entry (Ross & Gray, 2005)
• Create outreach programs to re-connect to
students , for example use SSAID to track
students (Berliner et al., 2008)
• Re-entry must be 1.Accessible 2. Effective, and
3. Equivalent (Ross & Gray, 2005)
What does this mean for Families?
• Build on the knowledge and interests youth
develop at home
• Develop consistent & coherent messages
between school and family
• Promote family involvement as just as
important in high school as well as early
grades
• Connect with community based organizations
to meet needs of at risk youth
(NRO & IOM, 2004)
What does this mean for
Communities?
• Create opportunities for students to extend
and apply school-learned skills in contexts
outside of school
• Create environments for youth to learn from
adults in and out of school
• Connect youth to needed services in the
community to support educational endeavors
(NRO & IOM, 2004)
Final Comments on Re-Engagement
• Important to emphasize life long learning –
first chance at education cannot be last
chance at education
• Accept non-linearity of education – multiple
pathways to success may include reversible
movements
• Re-engagment is about regaining an identity
as a successful self.
References
• Center for Mental Health in Schools. (2008).
Engaging and Re-engaging Students in Learning
at School. Los Angeles, CA: Author.
• National Research Council and the Institute of
Medicine. (2004). Engaging Schools: Fostering
High School Students’ Motivation to Learn.
Committee on Increasing High School Students’
Engagement and Motivation to Learn. Board on
Children, Youth, and Families, Division of
Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education.
Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.