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Engaged

Engage students using school and community resources related to

• Extracurricular Activities
• Opportunities for Community-Based Apprenticeships, Internships, and Projects
• Skills that Make Learning Interesting and Relevant

 

Extracurricular Activities

The Compendium of Assessment and Research Tools (CART). (web resource) CART is a database that provides information on instruments that measure attributes associated with youth development programs. It includes descriptions of research instruments, tools, rubrics, and guides and is intended to assist those who have an interest in studying the effectiveness of service-learning, safe and drug-free schools and communities, and other school-based youth development activities. Support for assembling this compendium of research instruments was supported by The Star Center and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Learning In Deed Initiative.

The 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development. Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development at Tufts University, 2009. (Web resource and PDF, 34 pgs.) This research report shows that youth development programs like 4-H play a special and vital role in the lives of America's young people. Among the findings, eighth graders who participated in 4-H programs at least twice per month also scored higher on civic identity and engagement measures and had a greater ability to express opinions on community issues.

Assessing School Engagement: A Guide for Out-of-School Time Program Practitioners. Child Trends, 2008. (PDF, 5 pgs.) Levels of school engagement are declining, particularly among boys. Out-of-school time programs can play a role in increasing school engagement.

Measurement Tools for Evaluating Out-of-School Time Programs: An Evaluation Resource. Harvard Family Research Project, 2008. (PDF, 53 pgs.) A practical evaluation tool to help practitioners and evaluators choose appropriate evaluation methods for out-of-school time programs.

The Arts, Creative Learning, and Student Achievement: 2008 Study of Arts Education in Colorado Public Schools. Colorado Department of Education and Colorado Council on the Arts, 2008. (PDF, 16 pgs.) A study finds that public high schools offering more arts education have higher academic achievement, regardless of student ethnicity or socioeconomic status, and lower dropout rates. Teachers in these schools also tend to be more aware of students' learning styles and help them achieve at higher levels.

High School Broadcast Journalism Project. Radio and Television News Directors Foundation (RTNDF), 2008. (website) A journalism education program of RTNDF, this program promotes broadcast journalism by helping high schools establish and maintain outstanding broadcast journalism programs.

Personalizing the High School Experience for Each Student. ASCD, 2008. (book, available for purchase, 200 pgs.) In research over the last decade, educators have learned to identify six areas in which high schools begin to fail their students. The authors examine these six problem areas, allowing readers to look at personalized learning in several different ways and offering six ways to engage students and prevent any from believing they are stupid.

 

Opportunities for Community-Based Apprenticeships, Internships, and Projects

At Your Service. Educational Leadership, ASCD, 2008. (web article) A middle school literacy coach in a high poverty school describes her efforts to engage her reluctant learners through service-learning. The article includes resources for implementing service-learning.

Engaged for Success: Service-Learning as a Tool for High School Dropout Prevention. Civic Enterprises, 2008. (PDF, 32 pgs.) This report posits that because service-learning brings meaning to classroom lessons and engages students in hands-on activities; students who participate are less likely to drop out.

Educating for Democracy: Lessons from Chicago. Consortium on Chicago School Research, 2008. (PDF, 20 pgs.) This summary report of research conducted in Chicago Public Schools concludes that providing particular kinds of classroom civic learning opportunities can very meaningfully support the development of students' commitments to civic participation.

Core Principles for Engaging Young People in Community Change. The Forum for Youth Investment, 2007. (PDF, 32 pgs.) Youth engagement principles for a wide range of organizations, including schools, youth organizations, or community centers that want to strengthen their commitment to youth leadership, or community-change focused organizations or coalitions that want to strengthen their commitment to youth involvement.

Business Coalition Leaders Speak out on Education. DeHavilland Associates with the Business/Education Partnership Forum, 2007. (PDF, 18 pgs.) A detailed report of key findings from a survey of business coalition leaders on their experiences working with schools and districts.

A New Day for Learning. Time, Learning, and Afterschool Task Force, 2007. (PDF, 48 pgs.) Funded by the C.S. Mott Foundation, this report calls for collaboration between schools, communities, and families to create seamless learning throughout a child's day—in and out of school.

Learning to Listen: Core Principles for the Involvement of Children and Young People. Children and Young People's Unit, 2001. (PDF, 40 pgs.) This document from the British government puts forth principles for engaging young people "in the planning, delivery and evaluation of government policies and services."

Epstein's Six Types of Involvement. National Network of Partnership Schools, n.d. (web resource) Joyce Epstein's framework of six types of involvement for families helps schools and communities develop comprehensive programs of school, family, and community partnership. Includes a brief summary of the benefits of each type of involvement for students, families, and teachers.

 

Skills that Make Learning
Interesting and Relevant

Ten Top Tips for Teaching with New Media. Edutopia, 2009. (PDF, 9 pgs., free registration required) Full of succinct and practical ways to prepare students for 21st century success, this guide offers tips for making the most of the latest technologies and innovative ways to use them.

Reaching the Reluctant Learner. Educational Leadership, ASCD, 2008 (web publication) Educational Leadership magazine shares numerous articles on how students can be more effectively motivated and engaged in learning.

Expanding Pathways: Transforming High School Education in California. ConnectEd, 2008. (PDF, 42 pgs.) This policy paper lays out a vision for creating multiple pathways for students, largely through expanding career and technical education opportunities.

Why Tests Aren't Enough. Is It Good For the Kids?, ASCD, 2007. (web column) Multiple measures of assessment are important to supplement traditional tests and provide a clearer picture of learning.

Educational Engagement: A Successful Strategy for Academic and Civic Achievement and Success. Education Commission of the States, 2007. (PDF, 4 pgs.) This issue of The Progress of Education Reform examines the benefits of student engagement on achievement and implications for policymakers.

Core Principles for Engaging Young People in Community Change. Forum for Youth Investment and Impact Strategies, 2007. (PDF, 32 pgs.) Important but simple youth engagement principles for a wide range of organizations, including schools, youth organizations, or community centers that want to strengthen their commitment to youth leadership, or community-change focused organizations or coalitions that want to strengthen their commitment to youth involvement.

Voices of Students on Engagement: A Report on the 2006 High School Survey of Student Engagement. The High School Survey of Student Engagement, Indiana University, 2006. (PDF, 12 pgs.) Survey results from more than 80,000 students in over 100 schools across 26 states.

Help Us Care Enough to Learn. Educational Leadership, ASCD, 2006. (web article, available for purchase) Interviews with 65 students across the country reveal what high school students need to become engaged in their schools.

Wingspread Declaration: A National Strategy for Improving School Connectedness. Journal of School Health, 2004. (PDF, pp. 233-34) This document provides insights and strategies to improve school connectedness, based on a review of research and a discussion among a group of school leaders.

The First Amendment in Schools. ASCD, 2003. (book, available for purchase, 205 pgs.) This book is a resource for educators on the First Amendment, with answers to 90 of the most critical questions.

 

Research

The 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development. Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development at Tufts University, 2009. (Web resource and PDF, 34 pgs.) This research report shows that youth development programs like 4-H play a special and vital role in the lives of America's young people. Among the findings, eighth graders who participated in 4-H programs at least twice per month also scored higher on civic identity and engagement measures and had a greater ability to express opinions on community issues.

Graduating America: Meeting the Challenge of Low Graduation-Rate High Schools. Jobs for the Future and the Everyone Graduates Center, 2009. (PDF, 52 pgs.) The federal government has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to stimulate significant progress in solving the nation's graduation crisis. While high schools with low graduation rates exist in every state and many communities across the country, they are concentrated in a subset of 17 states that produce approximately 70 percent of the nation's dropouts. Data from these states are used to develop new analytic tools for examining the characteristics of schools, districts, and states that make certain approaches more likely to succeed in certain places.

Achieving Graduation for All: A Governor's Guide to Dropout Prevention and Recovery. National Governor's Association, 2009. (PDF, 48 pgs.) This report shares reform strategies that build a comprehensive approach to dropout prevention and recovery. Lowering dropout rates statewide expands opportunities for youth to be successful in college, career, and life; strengthens communities and civic engagement; and helps achieve economic growth.

Career Academies: Long-Term Impacts on Labor Market Outcomes, Educational Attainment, and Transitions to Adulthood. MDRC, 2008. (PDF, 63 pgs.) Career Academies have become a widely used high school reform initiative that aims to keep students engaged in school and prepare them for successful transitions to postsecondary education and employment.

Using Early-Warning Data to Improve Graduation Rates: Closing Cracks in the Education System. Alliance for Excellent Education, 2008. (PDF, 14 pgs.) With a national high school graduation rate hovering around 70 percent, far too many of the nation's students are falling through the cracks of the education system and leaving high school without the skills necessary for success in college, work, and life. Anecdotal evidence and national statistics show that educational outcomes for poor and minority children are generally worse than that of their peers.

IES Practice Guide: Dropout Prevention. Institute of Education Sciences' National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, 2008. (PDF, 72 pgs.) A review of the evidence on dropout prevention and suggested strategies for practice.

Organized Communities, Stronger Schools: A Preview of Research Findings. Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, 2008. (PDF, 33 pgs.) Read a preview of findings from a six-year study that shows the positive impact of effective community organizing on education reform in seven urban communities. The study demonstrates that community organizing contributes to an improved learning environment and improved educational outcomes for students and stimulates important changes in policy, practices, and resource distribution that expand equity and capacity at the system level, especially in historically underserved communities.

The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts. Civic Enterprises in association with Peter D. Hart Research Associates for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 2006. (PDF, 44 pgs.) While some students drop out because of significant academic challenges, this report address the main reasons students who could have, and believe they could have, succeeded in school made the decision to leave. This survey of young people suggests that despite high aspirations and good enough grades, students lives and an inadequate response to those circumstances from the schools led to dropping out.

A Case for School Connectedness. Educational Leadership, ASCD, 2005. (web article) This article cites research showing that students are more likely to succeed when they feel connected to school, and offers advice for schools to increase connectedness.

 

Facts and Stats

The Afterschool Hours in America. Afterschool Alliance, 2008. (PDF, 1 pg.) Factual overview of the afterschool hours in America and the benefit to youth, families, and communities.

Afterschool Programs: Making a Difference in America's Communities by Improving Academic Achievement, Keeping Kids Safe and Helping Working Families. Afterschool Alliance, 2008. (PDF, 2 pgs.) A summary of research findings of afterschool programs improving academic achievement, keeping kids safe, and helping working families.

 

Tools

The Compendium of Assessment and Research Tools (CART). (web resource) CART is a database that provides information on instruments that measure attributes associated with youth development programs. It includes descriptions of research instruments, tools, rubrics, and guides and is intended to assist those who have an interest in studying the effectiveness of service-learning, safe and drug-free schools and communities, and other school-based youth development activities. Support for assembling this compendium of research instruments was supported by The Star Center and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Learning In Deed Initiative.

School Citizenship Climate Assessment. Education Commission of the States (ECS) National Center for Learning and Citizenship and the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools, 2006. (PDF, 11 pgs.) An assessment instrument developed to measure characteristics of the school and classroom that relate to civic competencies.

 

Other Resources

Ten Top Tips for Teaching with New Media. Edutopia, 2009. (PDF, 9 pgs., free registration required) Full of succinct and practical ways to prepare students for 21st century success, this guide offers tips for making the most of the latest technologies and innovative ways to use them.

Understanding the State of Knowledge of Youth Engagement Financing and Sustainability. The Finance Project, 2008. (PDF, 76 pgs.) Information to help policy and program leaders develop effective youth engagement approaches and understanding of what works, for whom, and at what cost. Additionally, this report supplies strategies to finance and sustain these efforts.

What Matters, What Works: Advancing Achievement After School. Public/Private Ventures, 2008. (PDF, 24 pgs.) This brief underscores the potential of after-school programs to advance children's academic achievement. It shines a light on what matters most for programs that strive to promote academic success—namely, program quality and youth engagement—and it suggests what works by linking these program attributes to academic benefits.

Counting on Graduation: An Agenda for State Leadership. The Education Trust, 2008. (PDF, 10 pgs.) An agenda to improve graduation rates and data collection on the rates themselves.

Fundamentals for Student Success in the Middle Grades. National Middle School Association, 2007. (web resource) Free presentation tool that provides an overview of adolescent development, research, and recommendations for middle level education.

Activating the Desire to Learn. ASCD, 2007. (book, available for purchase, 168 pgs.) This book shows teachers where the desire to learn comes from and how they can activate it in students.

Schooling for a Democratic Society. Education Update, ASCD, 2005. (web article) This article describes the First Amendment Schools project, in which schools cultivate "scholar activists."

Community Schools: Educators and Community Sharing Responsibility for Student Learning. ASCD InfoBrief, ASCD, 2004. (web brief) This article offers strategies for policymakers and educators looking to establish and grow community schools, which offer a range of academic, health, recreational, and social services.

Learn and Serve America's National Service-Learning Clearinghouse. A comprehensive website with research, tip sheets, event information, and service-learning ideas for schools, communities, and families.

National Association of Student Councils. Sponsored by the National Association of Secondary School Principals, this organization's website shares project ideas, advisor tool kits, scholarships, contests, and more for student leaders and their adult sponsors.

Harvard Family Research Project. The Harvard Graduate School of Education website shares comprehensive research and articles about family engagement during and after school.

Parent/Home Involvement in Schools. The Center for Mental Health in Schools shares quick, online resources for research and best practices in parent and home involvement.

ASCD Brain-Compatible Learning Network. Connect with other educators interested in how brain research translates into learning, teaching, and leadership practices.

First Amendment Schools. Learn about this national reform initiative designed to transform how schools teach and practice the rights and responsibilities of citizenship that frame civic life in our democracy.

ASCD Problem-Based Learning Network. Hosted by the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, this network provides resources for and connects educators using problem-based learning strategies.