Defining Student Engagement

The definition of engagement usually includes student participation in school activities and students' identification with school and acceptance of school values. Participation includes basic behaviors such as the student's compliance with school and class rules, promptness in arriving at school and classes, attending to the teacher, and classroom participation. Identification encompasses students' sense of belonging, their social ties and bonds, their relationship with teachers, their sense of safety and security at school, and the extent to which they value school success.

It is important to recognize the multiple facets of engagement. Although engagement is often thought of as a student's ability to focus on the task at hand, it includes other indicators critical for students' connection with school. The term engagement refers to the extent to which students participate in academic and non-academic school activities and identify with and value schooling outcomes. The following table lists four facets of student engagement.

Engagement and the School Dropout Process

There is growing evidence that school dropout is not so much an isolated "event" as a "process" of disengagement from school that often begins in elementary school. Research suggests that participation in school (e.g., attending school, attending classes, completing schoolwork, participating in extra curricular activities) leads to positive school performance. Students who attend school regularly and complete their assigned schoolwork are more likely to pass their classes. A positive school experience leads to positive identification with school. Students feel they belong in school, and they share common values with other students and teachers. By contrast, students who are at risk of dropping out are students who are showing signs of disengaging from school. They may be missing classes, not completing schoolwork, getting bad grades, or getting suspended. Not surprisingly, students who are at-risk for dropping out of school often express disinterest in school and have low expectations for completing school.

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