Student Engagement

Dr. Sukari Stredit-Thomas is a member of Cohort II of the RPLA and serves as principal intern at Quest High School in Humble ISD.   Having previously served as teacher, department chair, dean of instruction and instructional coordinator for grades PK-12, Dr. Stredit-Thomas was well prepared to successfully meet the challenges presented by the RPLA.  

In her role at Quest High School, Dr. Stredit-Thomas has established powerful relationships with students, parents and staff.  As one student recently stated, "Dr. T is one of us!"  She approaches each new experience, assignment and responsibility with enthusiasm and a positive attitude that is forward-thinking and solutions-oriented.  Additionally, responding to difficult issues and situations with sensitivity and professionalism have earned Sukari a deep level of respect.

Check out Citizen Schools to see how after school is just as important as during school.  Reports on their effective student engagement can be found here.

In a recent survey, educators held that student engagement in the content was a better, more accurate measurement of teacher effectiveness than student performance on standardized tests.  This finding, along with other results from the survey, can found on Ed Week here.

Though John Dewey is long gone, his emphasis on the power of connected, hands-on learning is still alive and well.  Meaningful, connected project-based learning keeps kids engaged, exploring, and learning.   For some excellent tips on how to make it happen in the classroom, see: Ten Steps to Better Student Engagement

Scott Van Beck, executive director of Houston A+ Challenge, knows a thing or two about student engagement—enough to say, "Student engagement is the holy grail.  We’ve got to figure this out."

As a regional superintendent of Houston ISD’s West Region, Van Beck and his executive staff visited campuses to collect data on school performance using a unique protocol titled, "ARE we there yet?"  Van Beck, his team, and school personnel would visit three classrooms to assess performance in three areas: A-Alignment, R-Rigor, and E-Engagement.  After almost 1,000 classroom visits over three years for this purpose, the findings were clear and obvious.  "Even in high scoring classrooms with what would be considered highly effective teachers, we found that engagement scores were usually the lowest. In fact, they were usually 50% of the alignment scores," Van Beck concludes.

The data also showed that elementary teachers generally had higher scores in engagement than secondary teachers did.  Van Beck suggests that one of the reasons for this disparity has to do with the  issue of skills versus content.  "Elementary schools tend to spend more time building skills," says Van Beck, "whereas secondary schools expect kids to know the 'how' as opposed to the 'what.'" 

At Houston A+ Challenge, Van Beck keeps coming back to a key finding from this earlier work: "with student engagement, you have to begin with the learner in mind. You can't look at content or teaching practice—you must focus on learners' needs and interests, and that's tough in an environment of accountability based on standardized tests.  Accountability is built around curriculum and teacher practice, not around learners’ behaviors and needs."

An oldie but goodie still flies off the shelves at Houston A+ Challenge on a regular basis: Phil Schlechty's Working on the Work from 2002.  It still circulates among staff and those A+ works with because it remains the best resource on student engagement that educators can lay their hands on. 

Building on his previous work, Shaking Up the Schoolhouse, Schlechty begins by categorizing student engagement in the classroom into five behavioral responses: authentic engagement, ritual engagement, passive compliance, retreatism, and rebellion.  These responses underscore the book’s strategic intent, which is to transform classroom practice into meaningful, engaged instruction.  The remainder of the book examines the ways in which leaders at all levels in a district can transform schools, and the thread through all of this is student engagement. 

When asked what is different about his new Apple class, Michael Shea of Reagan High School responds in all seriousness (and with not the least bit of arrogance):  "This is the chance to see education in a way that’s not all paint-by-numbers."

Shea, a veteran teacher, became interested in making instructional videos for his ESL classes a few years ago, and this interest has blossomed into a passion.  With support from Houston ISD, Shea and his students have created two highly successful video series, English with Sound & Lights, that are now used throughout the district.  It would be enough to discuss how the production and use of this video series engages students in meaningful work, but even beyond this is the story of student engagement in the new Apple Final Cut Pro lab in Shea’s classroom — one of only seven such labs in the nation. 

Evan Thomas and Pat Wingert, Newsweek, February 19, 2010

“For the first time in American history, there is the risk that the rising generation will be less well educated than the previous one... Studies show that more and more poor and nonwhite students aspire to graduate from college—but their graduation rates fall far short of their dreams. The graduation rates for blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans lag far behind the graduation rates for whites and Asians. As the minority population grows in the United States, low college graduation rates become a threat to national prosperity.”

To read the full article, click here.

21st Century Collaborative blogger Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach argues that technology only makes collaboration and reflection easier. In a recent Education Week essay, she writes: "The more I use web tools to connect and collaborate with colleagues, the more convinced I am that reflection and relationship-building are the keys for teachers striving to develop their practice and adapt to changing learning needs. Increasingly, other educators are having this realization as well." Check out the entire piece here.

A new survey from Deloitte exposes a vast disconnect between what students and parents want and expect from the K-12 system, and what teachers say is most important. Preparing students for success in college was a primary mission for only 9 percent of high school teachers surveyed, and as many as 40 percent said it is either "somewhat important" or "not important" that their students attend college.