Improving Schools,Engaging Students

Guide for Practice . . .

Engaging and Re-engaging Students

in Learning at School

September, 2008

The Center is co-directed by Howard Adelman and Linda Taylor and operates under the auspice of the School Mental Health Project, Dept. of Psychology, UCLA.

Center for Mental Health in Schools, Box 951563, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563(310) 825-3634 Fax: (310) 206-5895; E-mail: smhp@ucla.edu Website: http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu

Please reference this document as follows: Center for Mental Health in Schools. (2008). Engagingand Re-engaging Students in Learning at School. Los Angeles, CA: Author.

Download at no cost from: http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/engagingandre-engagingstudents.pdf

If needed, hard copies may be ordered from:Center for Mental Health in SchoolsUCLA Dept. of PsychologyP.O.Box 951563Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563

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Engaging and Re-engaging Students in Learning at School

Learning and succeeding in school requires active engagement. ... The coreprinciples that underlie engagement are applicable to all schools—whether theyare in urban, suburban, or rural communities. ... Engaging adolescents, includingthose who have become disengaged and alienated from school, is not an easytask. Academic motivation decreases steadily from the early grades of elementaryschool into high school. Furthermore, adolescents are too old and too independentto follow teachers’ demands out of obedience, and many are too young,inexperienced, or uninformed to fully appreciate the value of succeeding in school.

National Academy of Science’s Research Council

Motivation is a prominent concern in all schools. While our focus is on students,any discussion of motivation has applications to all facets of schoolimprovement. Think about engaging and re-engaging parents and staff.

After an extensive review of the literature, Fredricks, Blumenfeld, and Paris (2004)conclude: Engagement is associated with positive academic outcomes, includingachievement and persistence in school; and it is higher in classrooms with supportiveteachers and peers, challenging and authentic tasks, opportunities for choice, andsufficient structure (see Box on next page). Conversely, for many students,disengagement is associated with behavior problems, and behavior and learningproblems may eventually lead to dropout. The degree of concern about studentengagement varies depending on school population.

From a psychological perspective, student disengagement is associated with situationalthreats to feelings of competence, self-determination, and/or relatedness to valuedothers (Deci & Ryan, 1985). The demands may be from school staff, peers,instructional content and processes. Psychological disengagement may be internalized(e.g., boredom, emotional distress) and/or externalized (misbehavior, dropping out).Re-engagement depends on use of interventions that help minimize conditions thatnegatively affect intrinsic motivation and maximize conditions that have a positivemotivational effect.

In this guide, we briefly highlight the following matters because they are fundamentalto the challenge of student (and staff) disengagement and re-engagement:

• Disengaged students and social control • Intrinsic motivation • Two key components of motivation: valuing and expectations • Overreliance on extrinsics: a bad match • Focusing on intrinsic motivation to re-engage students

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About the Concept of Engagement

As applied to schools, Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris (2004) stress that engagement is defined in three ways in the research literature:

• Behavioral engagement draws on the idea of participation; it includesinvolvement in academic and social or extracurricular activities and isconsidered crucial for achieving positive academic outcomes and preventingdropping out.

• Emotional engagement encompasses positive and negative reactions toteachers, classmates, academics, and school and is presumed to create ties toan institution and influences willingness to do the work.

• Cognitive engagement draws on the idea of investment; it incorporatesthoughtfulness and willingness to exert the effort necessary to comprehendcomplex ideas and master difficult skills.

They also emphasize:

Antecedents of Engagement can be organized into:

• School level factors: voluntary choice, clear and consistent goals, smallsize, student participation in school policy and management, opportunitiesfor staff and students to be involved in cooperative endeavors, andacademic work that allows for the development of products

• Classroom Context: Teacher support, peers, classroom structure,autonomy support, task characteristics

• Individual Needs: Need for relatedness, need for autonomy, need forcompetence

Engagement can be measured as follows:

• Behavioral Engagement: conduct, work involvement, participation,persistence, (e.g., completing homework, complying with school rules,absent/tardy, off-task)

• Emotional Engagement: self-report related to feelings of frustration,boredom, interest, anger, satisfaction; student-teacher relations; workorientation

• Cognitive Engagement: investment in learning, flexible problems solving,independent work styles, coping with perceived failure, preference forchallenge and independent mastery, commitment to understanding thework

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DisengagedStudents and Social Control

Learningsupportsare essential to re-engagingstudents whohave activelydisengaged from classroom

learning

In general, teaching involves being able to apply strategiesfocused on content to be taught and knowledge and skills to beacquired – with some degree of attention given to the process ofengaging students. All this works fine in schools where moststudents come each day ready and able to deal with what theteacher is ready and able to teach. Indeed, teachers are fortunatewhen they have a classroom where the majority of studentsshow up and are receptive to the planned lessons. In schools thatare the greatest focus of public criticism, this certainly is not thecase. What most of us realize, at least at some level, is thatteachers in such settings are confronted with an entirelydifferent teaching situation. Among the various supports theyabsolutely must have are ways to re-engage students who havebecome disengaged and often resistant to broad-band (non-personalized) teaching approaches. To the dismay of mostteachers, however, strategies for re-engaging students inlearning rarely are a prominent part of pre or in-servicepreparation and seldom are the focus of interventions pursuedby professionals whose role is to support teachers and students(National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine,2004).

It is commonplace to find that when students are not engaged inthe lessons at hand they tend to pursue other activity. Asteachers and other staff try to cope with those who aredisruptive, the main concern usually is “classroommanagement.” At one time, a heavy dose of punishment was thedominant approach. Currently, the stress is on more positivepractices designed to provide “behavior support” in and out ofthe classroom. For the most part, however, the strategies areapplied as a form of social control aimed directly at stoppingdisruptive behavior. And, the argument sometimes is made thatwhen students continue to misbehave it is because the wrongsocialization practices have been used or have beenimplemented incorrectly.

An often stated assumption is that stopping the behavior willmake the student amenable to teaching. In a few cases, this maybe so. However, the assumption ignores all the work that has ledto understanding psychological reactance and the need forindividuals to restore their sense of self-determination (Deci &Flaste, 1995). Moreover, it belies two painful realities: thenumber of students who continue to manifest poor academicachievement and the staggering dropout rate in too manyschools.

To move schools beyond overreliance on punishment, there isongoing advocacy for social skills training, asset development,character education, and positive behavior support initiatives.

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All behavior-focusedinterventionsmust go a stepfarther andinclude a focuson helpingteachers re-engagestudents inclassroomlearning

IntrinsicMotivation is Fundamental

The move from punishment to positive approaches is a welcomeone. However, most of the new initiatives have not focusedenough on a basic system failure that must be addressed ifimproved behavior is to be maintained. That is, strategies thatfocus on positive behavior have paid too little attention tohelping teachers deal with student engagement in classroomlearning.

Student engagement encompasses not only engaging andmaintaining engagement, but also re-engaging those who havedisengaged. Of particular concern is what teachers do when theyencounter a student who has disengaged and is misbehaving. Inmost cases, the emphasis shouldn’t be first and foremost onimplementing social control techniques.

What teachers need even more are ways to re-engage studentswho have become disengaged and resistant to standardinstruction. The developmental trend in intervention thinkingmust be toward practices that embrace an expanded view ofengagement and human motivation.

Engaging and re-engaging students in learning is the facet ofteaching that draws on what is known about human motivation(e.g., see Brophy, 2004; Deci & Flaste, 1995; Deci & Ryan,1985; Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris, 2004; Stipek, 1998).What many of us have been taught about dealing with studentmisbehavior and learning problems runs counter to what weintuitively understand about human motivation. Teachers andparents, in particular, often learn to over-depend onreinforcement theory, despite the appreciation they have aboutthe importance of intrinsic motivation. Those who argue wemust focus on “basics” are right. But, the basics that needattention have to do with motivation.

Obviously, intrinsic motivation is a fundamental considerationin designing classroom and school-wide interventions. Anincreased understanding of motivation clarifies how essential itis to avoid processes that limit options, make students feelcontrolled and coerced, and focus mostly on“remedying”problems. From a motivational perspective, suchprocesses are seen as likely to produce avoidance reactions inthe classroom and to school and, thus, reduce opportunities forpositive learning and for development of positive attitudes.

Eventually, such processes will cause students to disengagefrom classroom learning. Re-engagement depends on use ofinterventions that help minimize conditions that negativelyaffect motivation and maximize conditions that have apositive motivational effect.

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Motivation is:

>a readiness concern

>an ongoing process

concern

>a reactance concern

Of course, teachers, parents, and support staff cannot control allfactors affecting motivation. Indeed, when any of us addresslearning and behavior concerns, we have direct control over arelatively small segment of the physical and social environment.We try to maximize the likelihood that opportunities to learn area good fit with the current capabilities of a given youngster.And, with learning engagement in mind, we try to matchindividual differences in motivation.

Matching individual differences in motivation means attendingto such matters as:

• Motivation as a readiness concern. Optimal

performance and learning require motivationalreadiness. The absence of such readiness can causeand/or maintain problems. If a learner does not haveenough motivational readiness, strategies must beimplemented to develop it (including ways to reduceavoidance motivation). Readiness should not beviewed in the old sense of waiting until an individualis interested. Rather, it should be understood in thecontemporary sense of establishing environments thatare perceived by students as caring, supportive placesand as offering stimulating activities that are valuedand challenging, and doable.

• Motivation as a key ongoing process concern. Many

learners are caught up in the novelty of a new subject,but after a few lessons, interest often wanes. Somestudent are motivated by the idea of obtaining a givenoutcome but may not be motivated to pursue certainprocesses and thus may not pay attention or may try toavoid them. For example, some are motivated to startwork on overcoming their problems but may notmaintain that motivation. Strategies must be designedto elicit, enhance, and maintain motivation so that ayoungster stays mobilized.

• Minimizing negative motivation and avoidance

reactions as process and outcome concerns. Teachersand others at a school and at home not only must try toincrease motivation – especially intrinsic motivation –but also take care to avoid or at least minimizeconditions that decrease motivation or producenegative motivation. For example, care must be takennot to over-rely on extrinsics to entice and rewardbecause to do so may decrease intrinsic motivation. Attimes, school is seen as unchallenging, uninteresting,overdemanding, overwhelming, overcontrolling,nonsupportive, or even hostile. When this happens, a

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>a basic outcome

concern

student may develop negative attitudes and avoidancerelated to a given situation, and over time, related to schooland all it represents.

• Enhancing intrinsic motivation as a basic outcome

concern. It is essential to enhance motivation as anoutcome so the desire to pursue a given area (e.g., reading,good behavior) increasingly is a positive intrinsic attitudethat mobilizes learning and behaving outside the teachingsituation. Achieving such an outcome involves use ofstrategies that do not over-rely on extrinsic rewards andthat do enable youngsters to play a meaningful role inmaking decisions related to valued options. In effect,enhancing intrinsic motivation is a fundamental protectivefactor and is the key to developing resiliency.

Students who are intrinsically motivated to learn at school seek outopportunities and challenges and go beyond requirements. In doingso, they learn more and learn more deeply than do classmates whoare extrinsically motivated. Facilitating the learning of suchstudents is a fairly straightforward matter and fits well with schoolimprovements that primarily emphasize enhancing instructionalpractices. The focus is on helping establish ways for students whoare motivationally ready and able to achieve and, of course, tomaintain and enhance their motivation. The process involvesknowing when, how, and what to teach and also knowing when andhow to structure the situation so they can learn on their own.

In contrast, students who manifest learning, behavior, and/oremotional problems may have developed extremely negativeperceptions of teachers and programs. In such cases, they are notlikely to be open to people and activities that look like "the sameold thing." Major changes in approach are required if the youngsteris even to perceive that something has changed in the situation.Minimally, exceptional efforts must be made to have them (1) viewthe teacher and other interveners as supportive (rather thancontrolling and indifferent) and (2) perceive content, outcomes, andactivity options as personally valuable and obtainable. Thus, anyeffort to re-engage disengaged students must begin by addressingnegative perceptions. School support staff and teachers must worktogether to reverse conditions that led to such perceptions.

Increasing intrinsic motivation involves affecting a student's thoughts, feelings,and decisions. In general, the intent is to use procedures that can potentiallyreduce negative and increase positive feelings, thoughts, and coping strategieswith respect to learning. For learning and behavior problems, in particular, thismeans identifying and minimizing experiences that maintain or may increaseavoidance motivation.

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Two KeyComponents of Motivation:Valuing andExpectations

About Valuing

Two common reasons people give for not bothering to learnsomething are "It's not worth it" and "I know I won't be able to doit." In general, the amount of time and energy spent on an activityseems dependent on how much the activity is valued by the personand on the person's expectation that what is valued will be attainedwithout too great a cost.

What makes something worth doing? Prizes? Money? Meritawards? Praise? Certainly! We all do a great many things, some ofwhich we don't even like to do, because the activity leads to adesired reward. Similarly, we often do things to escape punishmentor other negative consequences that we prefer to avoid.

Rewards and punishments may be material or social. For those withlearning, behavior, and emotional problems, there has beenwidespread use of such "incentives" (e.g., systematically givingpoints or tokens that can be exchanged for candy, prizes, praise,free time, or social interactions). Punishments have included loss offree time and other privileges, added work, fines, isolation, censure,and suspension. Grades have been used both as rewards andpunishments. Because people will do things to obtain rewards oravoid punishment, rewards and punishment often are calledreinforcers. Because they generally come from sources outside theperson, they often are called extrinsics.

Extrinsic reinforcers are easy to use and can immediately affectbehavior. Therefore, they have been widely adopted in the fields ofspecial education and psychology. Unfortunately, the immediateeffects are usually limited to very specific behaviors and often areshort-term. Moreover, extensive use of extrinsics can have someundesired effects. And, sometimes the available extrinsics simplyaren't powerful enough to get the desired results.

It is important to remember that what makes an extrinsic factorrewarding is the fact that it is experienced by the recipient as areward. What makes it a highly valued reward is that the recipienthighly values it. If someone doesn't like candy, there is not muchpoint in offering it as a reward. Furthermore, because the use ofextrinsics has limits, it's fortunate that people often do things evenwithout apparent extrinsic reason. In fact, a lot of what people learnand spend time doing is done for intrinsic reasons. Curiosity is agood example. Curiosity seems to be an innate quality that leads usto seek stimulation, avoid boredom, and learn a great deal.

The immediate effects of extrinsic reinforcement are usually limitedto very specific behaviors and often are short-term, and theirextensive use can have undesired effects

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AboutExpectations

People also pursue some things because of what has beendescribed as an innate striving for competence. Most of us valuefeeling competent. We try to conquer some challenges, and if noneare around, we usually seek one out. Of course, if the challengesconfronting us seem unconquerable or make us too uncomfortable(e.g., too anxious or exhausted), we try to put them aside and moveon to something more promising.

Another important intrinsic motivator appears to be an internalpush toward things that make a person feel self-determining.People seem to value feeling and thinking that they have somedegree of choice and freedom in deciding what to do. And, humanbeings also seem intrinsically moved toward establishing andmaintaining relationships. That is, we value the feelinginterpersonally connected.

We may value something greatly; but if we believe we can't dowhat’s necessary to obtain it without paying too great a personalprice, we are likely to look for other valued activities andoutcomes to pursue. Expectations about these matters areinfluenced by past experiences.

Previously unsuccessful arenas usually are seen as unlikely pathsto valued extrinsic rewards or intrinsic satisfactions. We mayperceive past failure as the result of our lack of ability; or we maybelieve that more effort was required than we were willing to give.We may also feel that the help we needed to succeed was notavailable. If our perception is that very little has changed withregard to these factors, our expectation of succeeding now will berather low. In general, then, what we value interacts with ourexpectations, and motivation is one product of this interaction.(See Exhibit on the next page).

Mother: You have to get up and go to school!

Son: I don’t want to. It’s too hard and the kids don’t like me.

Mother: But, you have to go. You’re the principal.

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A Bit of Theory

Motivation theory has many facets. At the risk of over simplifying things, the followingdiscussion is designed to make a few big points.

E x V

Can you decipher this? (Don't go on until you've tried.)Hint: the "x" is a multiplication sign.

In case the equation stumped you, don't be surprised. The main introduction tomotivational thinking that many people have been given in the past involves some formof reinforcement theory (which essentially deals with extrinsic motivation). Thus, allthis may be new to you, even though motivational theorists have been wrestling with itfor a long time, and intuitively, you probably understand much of what they are talkingabout.

E represents an individual's expectations about outcome (in school this often meansexpectations of success or failure). V represents valuing, with valuing influenced byboth what is valued intrinsically and extrinsically. Thus, in a general sense, motivationcan be thought of in terms of expectancy times valuing. Such theory recognizes thathuman beings are thinking and feeling organisms and that intrinsic factors can bepowerful motivators. This understanding of human motivation has major implicationsfor learning, teaching, parenting, and mental health interventions.

Within some limits (which we need not discuss here), high expectations and highvaluing produce high motivation, while low expectations (E) and high valuing (V)produce relatively weak motivation.

Youngsters may greatly value the idea of improving their reading. Theyusually are not happy with limited skills and know they would feel a lot betterabout if they could read. But, often they experience everything the teacher asksthem to do is a waste of time. They have done it all before, and they still have areading problem. Sometimes they will do the exercises, but just to earn pointsto go on a field trip and to avoid the consequences of not cooperating. Often,however, they try to get out of doing the work by distracting the teacher. Afterall, why should they do things they are certain won't help them read any better.

(Expectancy x Valuing = Motivation 0 x 1.0 = 0)

High expectations paired with low valuing also yield low approach motivation.Thus, the oft-cited remedial strategy of guaranteeing success by designingtasks to be very easy is not as simple a recipe as it sounds. Indeed, theapproach is likely to fail if the outcome (e.g., improved reading, learning mathfundamentals, applying social skills) is not valued or if the tasks areexperienced as too boring or if doing them is seen as too embarrassing. In suchcases, a strong negative value is attached to the activities, and this contributesto avoidance motivation.

(Expectancy x Valuing = Motivation 1.0 x 0 = 0)

Appropriate appreciation of all this is necessary in designing a match for optimallearning and performance.

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Overreliance on Extrinsics: a Bad Match

There are many intervention implications to derive fromunderstanding intrinsic motivation. For example, mobilizing andmaintaining a youngster’s motivation depends on how a classroomprogram addresses concerns about valuing and expectations.Schools and classrooms that offer a broad range of opportunities(e.g., content, outcomes, procedural options) and involve studentsin decision making are best equipped to meet the challenge.

Throughout this discussion of valuing and expectations, theemphasis has been on the fact that motivation is not something thatcan be determined solely by forces outside the individual. Otherscan plan activities and outcomes to influence motivation andlearning; however, how the activities and outcomes areexperienced determines whether they are pursued (or avoided)with a little or a lot of effort and ability. Understanding that anindividual's perceptions can affect motivation has led researchersto important findings about some undesired effects resulting fromoverreliance on extrinsics.

Because of the prominent role they play in school programs,grading, testing, and other performance evaluations are a specialconcern in any discussion of the overreliance on extrinsics as away to reinforce positive learning. Although grades often arediscussed as simply providing information about how well astudent is doing, many, if not most, students perceive each gradeas a reward or a punishment. Certainly, many teachers use gradesto try to control behavior – to reward those who do assignmentswell and to punish those who don't. Sometimes parents add to astudent's perception of grades as extrinsic reinforcers by giving areward for good report cards.

We all have our own horror stories about the negative impact ofgrades on ourselves and others. In general, grades have a way ofreshaping what students do with their learning opportunities. Inchoosing what to study, students strongly consider what gradesthey are likely to receive. As deadlines for assignments and testsget closer, interest in the topic gives way to interest in maximizingone's grade. Discussion of interesting issues and problems relatedto the area of study gives way to questions about how long a papershould be and what will be on the test. None of this is surprisinggiven that poor grades can result in having to repeat a course orbeing denied certain immediate and long-range opportunities. It issimply a good example of how systems that overemphasizeextrinsics may have a serious negative impact on intrinsicmotivation for learning. And if the impact of current practices isharmful to those who are able learners, imagine the impact onstudents with learning and behavior problems!

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The point is that extrinsic rewards can undermine intrinsic reasonsfor doing things. Although this is not always the case and may notalways be a bad thing, it is an important consideration in decidingto rely on extrinsic reinforcers in addressing learning, behavior,and emotional problems.

Motivation and Behavior & Learning Problems

Many individuals with learning problems also are described ashyperactive, distractible, impulsive, behavior disordered, and soforth. Their behavior patterns are seen as interfering with effortsto remedy their learning problems. Although motivation hasalways been a concern to those who work with learning andbehavior problems, the emphasis in handling these interferingbehaviors usually is on using extrinsics as part of efforts todirectly control, and/or in conjunction with, direct skill instruction.For example, interventions are designed to improve impulsecontrol, perseverance, selective attention, frustration tolerance,sustained attention and follow-through, and social awarenessand skills. In all cases, the emphasis is on reducing oreliminating interfering behaviors, usually with the presumptionthat the student will then re-engage in learning. However, thereis little evidence that these strategies enhance a student’smotivation toward classroom learning (National ResearchCouncil, 2004).

Ironically, the reliance on extrinsics to control behavior mayexacerbate student problems. Motivational research suggeststhat when people perceive their freedom (e.g., of choice) isthreatened, they have a psychological reaction that motivatesthem to restore their sense of freedom. (For instance, whenthose in control say: You can’t do that ... you must do this ..., thecovert and sometimes overt psychological reaction of studentsoften is: Oh, you think so!) This line of research also suggeststhat with prolonged denial of freedom, people’s reactivitydiminishes, they become amotivated.and usually feel helplessand ineffective.

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Focusing onIntrinsicMotivation toRe-engageStudents

General StrategicConsiderations

Psychological scholarship over the last fifty years has broughtrenewed attention to motivation as a central concept inunderstanding learning and attention problems. This work is justbeginning to find its way into applied fields and programs. Oneline of work has emphasized the relationship of learning andbehavior problems to deficiencies in intrinsic motivation. Thiswork clarifies the value of interventions designed to increase

• feelings of self-determination• feelings of competence and expectations of success• feelings of interpersonal relatedness• the range of interests and satisfactions related to

learning.

Activities to correct deficiencies in intrinsic motivation aredirected at improving awareness of personal motives and truecapabilities, learning to set valued and appropriate goals, learningto value and to make appropriate and satisfying choices, andlearning to value and accept responsibility for choice.

The point for emphasis here is that engaging and re-engagingstudents in learning involves matching motivation. Matchingmotivation requires an appreciation of the importance of astudent's perceptions in determining the right mix of intrinsic andextrinsic reasons. It also requires understanding the key roleplayed by expectations related to outcome. Without a good match,social control strategies can suppress negative attitudes andbehaviors, but re-engagement in classroom learning is unlikely.

To clarify matters with respect to designing new directions forstudent support for disengaged students, below are four generalstrategies to think about in planning ways to work with suchstudents:

Clarifying student perceptions of the problem – It is desirableto create a situation where it is feasible to talk openly withstudents about why they have become disengaged. Thisprovides an invaluable basis for formulating a personalized planfor helping to alter their negative perceptions and for planningways to prevent others from developing such perceptions. Reframing school learning – As noted above, in the case ofthose who have disengaged, major reframing in teachingapproaches is required so that these students (a) view theteacher as supportive (rather than controlling and indifferent)and (b) perceive content, outcomes, and activity options as

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Options and StudentDecision Making

as Key Facets

personally valuable and obtainable. It is important, for example,to eliminate threatening evaluative measures; reframe contentand processes to clarify purpose in terms of real life needs andexperiences and underscore how it all builds on previouslearning; and clarify why the procedures are expected to beeffective – especially those designed to help correct specificproblems.

Renegotiating involvement in school learning – New andmutual agreements must be developed and evolved over timethrough conferences with the student and where appropriateincluding parents. The intent is to affect perceptions of choice,value, and probable outcome. The focus throughout is onclarifying awareness of valued options, enhancing expectationsof positive outcomes, and engaging the student in meaningful,ongoing decision making. For the process to be most effective,students should be assisted in sampling new processes andcontent, options should include valued enrichmentopportunities, and there must be provision for reevaluating andmodifying decisions as perceptions shift.

Reestablishing and maintaining an appropriate workingrelationship – This requires the type of ongoing interactionsthat creates a sense of trust, open communication, and providespersonalized support and direction.

To maintain re-engagement and prevent disengagement, the abovestrategies must be pursued using processes and content that:

• minimize threats to feelings of competence, self-determination, and relatedness to valued others

• maximize such feelings (included here is an emphasis ona school taking steps to enhance public perception that itis a welcoming, caring, safe, and just institution)

• guide motivated practice (e.g., providing opportunitiesfor meaningful applications and clarifying ways toorganize practice)

• provide continuous information on learning andperformance in ways that highlight accomplishments

• provide opportunities for continued application andgeneralization (e.g., ways in which students can pursueadditional, self-directed learning or can arrange foradditional support and direction).

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Obviously, it is no easy task to decrease well-assimilated negativeattitudes and behaviors. And, the task is likely to become evenharder with the escalation toward high-stakes testing policies (nomatter how well-intentioned). It also seems obvious that, for manyschools, enhanced achievement test scores will only be feasiblewhen the large number of disengaged students are re-engaged inlearning at school.

All this argues for (1) minimizing student disengagement andmaximizing re-engagement by moving school culture toward agreater focus on intrinsic motivation and (2) minimizingpsychological reactance and enhancing perceptions that lead to re-engagement in learning at school by rethinking social controlpractices. From a motivational perspective, key facets ofaccomplishing this involve enhancing student options anddecision making.

A greater proportion of individuals with avoidance or lowmotivation for learning at school are found among those withlearning, behavior, and/or emotional problems. For theseindividuals, few currently available options may be appealing.How much greater the range of options needs to be dependsprimarily on how strong avoidance tendencies are. In general,however, the initial strategies for working with such studentsinvolve

• further expansion of the range of options for learning (if

necessary, this includes avoiding established curriculumcontent and processes)

• primarily emphasizing areas in which the student has

made personal and active decisions • accommodation of a wider range of behavior than

usually is tolerated (e.g., a widening of limits on theamount and types of "differences" tolerated)

From a motivational perspective, one of the most basic concernsis the way in which students are involved in making decisionsabout options. Critically, decision-making processes can lead toperceptions of coercion and control or to perceptions of realchoice (e.g., being in control of one's destiny, being self-determining). Such differences in perception can affect whether astudent is mobilized to pursue or avoid planned learning activitiesand outcomes.

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People who have the

opportunity tomake decisionsamong valuedand feasibleoptions tend tobe committed to following

through

I suspect thatmany children

would learnarithmetic,and learn itbetter, if it were illegal.

John Holt

People who have the opportunity to make decisions among valuedand feasible options tend to be committed to following through.In contrast, people who are not involved in decisions often havelittle commitment to what is decided. And if individuals disagreewith a decision that affects them, besides not following throughthey may react with hostility.

Thus, essential to programs focusing on motivation are decision-making processes that affect perceptions of choice, value, andprobable outcome. Three special points should be noted aboutdecision-making.

• Decisions are based on current perceptions. Asperceptions shift, it is necessary to reevaluatedecisions and modify them in ways that maintain amobilized learner.

• Effective and efficient decision making is a basicskill, and one that is as fundamental as the three Rs.Thus, if an individual does not do it well initially, thisis not a reason to move away from learnerinvolvement in decision making. Rather, it is anassessment of a need and a reason to use the processnot only for motivational purposes, but to improvethis basic skill.

• Among students manifesting learning, behavior,and/or emotional problems, it is well to rememberthat the most fundamental decision some of theseindividuals have to make is whether they want toparticipate or not. That is why it may be necessary inspecific cases temporarily to put aside establishedoptions and standards. As we have stressed, beforesome students will decide to participate in a proactiveway, they have to perceive the learning environmentas positively different – and quite a bit so – from theone in which they had so much failure.

Reviews of the literature on human motivation suggest thatproviding students with options and involving them in decisionmaking are key facets of addressing the problem of engagementin the classroom and at school (Deci & Flaste, 1995; Deci &Ryan, 1985; Stipek, 1998). For example, numerous studies haveshown that opportunities to express preferences and make choiceslead to greater motivation, academic gains, increases inproductivity and on-task behavior, and decreases in aggressivebehavior. Similarly, researchers report that student participationin goal setting leads to more positive outcomes (e.g., highercommitment to a goal and increased performance).

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Concluding Comments

Getting students involved in their education programs is more than having themparticipate; it is connecting students with their education, enabling them toinfluence and affect the program and, indeed, enabling them to becomeenwrapped and engrossed in their educational experiences.

Wehmeyer & Sands (1998)

Whatever the initial cause of someone’s learning and behavior problems, the longer theindividual has lived with such problems, the more likely s/he will have negative feelings andthoughts about instruction, teachers, and schools. The feelings include anxiety, fear,frustration, and anger. The thoughts may include strong expectations of failure andvulnerability and low valuing of many learning “opportunities.” Such thoughts and feelingscan result in avoidance motivation or low motivation for learning and performing in manyareas of schooling.

Low motivation leads to half-hearted effort. Avoidance motivation leads to avoidancebehaviors. Individuals with avoidance and low motivation often also are attracted to sociallydisapproved activity. Poor effort, avoidance behavior, and active pursuit of disapprovedbehavior on the part of students are sure-fire recipes for failure and worse.

It remains tempting to focus directly on student misbehavior. And, it also is tempting to thinkthat behavior problems at least can be exorcized by “laying down the law.” We have seenmany administrators pursue this line of thinking. For every student who “shapes up,” tenothers experience a Greek tragedy that inevitably ends in the student being pushed-out ofschool through a progression of suspensions, “opportunity” transfers, and expulsions.Official dropout figures don’t tell the tale. What we see in most high schools in cities suchas Los Angeles, Baltimore, D.C., Miami, and Detroit is that only about half those who wereenrolled in the ninth grade are still around to graduate from 12th grade.

Most of these students entered kindergarten with a healthy curiosity and a desire to learn toread and write. By the end of 2nd grade, we start seeing the first referrals by classroomteachers because of learning and behavior problems. From that point on,increasing numbersof students become disengaged from classroom learning, and most of these manifest someform of behavioral and emotional problems.

It is not surprising, then, that many are heartened to see the shift from punishment to positivebehavior support in addressing unwanted behavior. However, as long as factors that lead todisengagement are left unaffected, we risk perpetuating the phenomenon that William Ryanidentified as Blaming the Victim.

From an intervention perspective, the key point is that engaging and re-engaging studentsin classroom learning involves matching motivation. Matching motivation requires factoringin students’ perceptions in determining the right mix of intrinsic and extrinsic reasons. Italso requires understanding the key role played by expectations related to outcome. Withouta good match, social control strategies can temporarily suppress negative attitudes andbehaviors, but re-engagement in classroom learning is unlikely. And, without re-engagementin classroom learning, there will be no major gains in achievement test scores, unwantedbehavior is very likely to reappear, and many will be left behind.

17

References

Blumenfeld, P., Kempler, T., & Krajcik, J. (2006). Motivation and cognitive engagement inlearning environments. In R. K. Sawyer (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of the learningsciences (pp. 475––488).

Brophy, J. (2004). Motivating students to learn. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Deci E.L. & Flaste, R. (1995). Why we do what we do. New York: Penguin Books.

Deci, E.C. & Ryan, R. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior.New York: Plenum.

Deci, E.L. & Ryan, R.M. (2002). The paradox of achievement: The harder you push, the worse itgets. In J. Aronson (Ed.), Improving academic achievement: Contributions of socialpsychology. (Pp. 59-85). New York: Academic Press.

Fredricks, J. Blumenfeld, P. & Paris, A. (2004). School engagement: Potential of the concept,state of the evidence. Review of Educational Research, 74, 59-109.

National Research Council (2004). Engaging schools: Fostering high school students’motivation to learn Washhington, D.C.: National Academies Press.

Ryan, R.M. & Deci, E.L. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and newdirections. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 54-67.

Stipek, D.J. (1998). Motivation to learn: From theory to practice (3rd ed.) Boston: Allyn &Bacon.

Also, see Unit B – “Engaging Students (and their Families) in Learning: Real andValued Options and Decision Making” in: Enhancing Classroom Approaches forAddressing Barriers to Learning: Classroom-Focused Enabling online at: EnhancingClassroom Approaches for Addressing Barriers to Learning: Classroom-FocusedEnabling Online at: http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/contedu/cfe.pdf