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9
Summary of Finclings and
Recommendations
Engaging adolescents cognitively and emotionally in school and aca-
demic work is a challenge regardless of the social or economic status of the
students or the location of their schools. Adolescents are too old and too
independent to follow teachers' demands mindlessly, and many are too
young, inexperienced, or uninformed to fully appreciate the value of suc-
ceeding in school. Academic motivation decreases steadily from the early
grades of elementary school into high school, and disengagement from
coursework is common at the high school level.
Students living in low-income communities are not alone in being less
than enthusiastic about schoolwork. But when students from advantaged
backgrounds become disengaged, even though they learn less than they
could, they usually get by or they get second chances; most eventually
graduate and move on to other opportunities. In contrast, students from
disadvantaged backgrounds in environments that provide few quality re-
sources for them, such as those in high-poverty, urban high schools, are less
~ ~ 1 ~ ~
likely to graduate and face severely limited opportunities. In addition to
having greater burdens and distractions, the consequences of being
unengaged or dropping out of school are more serious for youth who do
not have the social and other resources available to cushion the effects of
academic failure. Their failure to acquire the basic skills needed to function
in adult society, whether or not they complete high school, dramatically
increases their risks of unemployment, poverty, poor health, and involve-
. . . . .
ment in t" be criminal justice system.
Urban high schools are not all alike, and a few, usually small and
211
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ENGAGING SCHOOLS
selective, have excellent records of equipping their students with the skills
needed to succeed in postsecondary education and in the workplace. But
taken as a whole, urban high schools fail to meet the needs of too many of
their students. In many schools with large concentrations of students living
in poverty, it is common for fewer than half the students who enter in ninth
grade to leave with a high school diploma. Furthermore, dropping out of
school is but the most visible indication of pervasive disengagement from
the academic purposes and programs of these schools. Many of the students
who do not drop out altogether attend irregularly, exert little or ineffective
effort on schoolwork, and learn little.
Schools do not control all of the factors that influence students' engage-
ment and motivation to learn. Particularly in disadvantaged urban commu-
nities, academic engagement and achievement are adversely influenced by
the economic and social marginalization of the students' families and com-
munities. These disadvantages, however, can be mitigated and in many
cases overridden by participation in an engaging school community with
high academic standards, skillful instruction, and support to achieve educa-
tional and career goals.
The evidence reviewed in this volume demonstrates that much has been
learned about the conditions in high schools that enhance student engage-
ment. The research base is mostly qualitative, correlational, or quasi-ex-
perimental, thus falling short of the random-assignment design that permits
strong causal conclusions. But the evidence for the recommendations made
is consistent enough to give it credibility.
A common theme among effective practices is that they have a positive
effect on the motivation of individual students because they address under-
lying psychological variables such as competence, control, beliefs about the
value of education, and a sense of belonging. In brief, effective schools and
teachers promote students' understanding of what it takes to learn and
confidence in their capacity to succeed in school by providing challenging
instruction and support for meeting high standards, and by conveying high
expectations for their students' success. They provide choices and they
make the curriculum and instruction relevant to adolescents' experiences,
cultures, and long-term goals, so that students see some value in what they
are doing in school. Finally, they promote a sense of belonging by personal-
izing instruction, showing an interest in students' lives, and creating a
. . .
supportive, caring soc1a" context.
This description of engaging schools applies to too few urban high
schools in low-income communities. Instead the picture that emerges from
both large-scale surveys and case studies is that most comprehensive urban
high schools are places where low expectations, alienation, and low achieve-
ment prevail. Resources are lacking and services are fragmented. The teach-
ers are the least qualified, and the buildings are the most dilapidated. The
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S UMMAR Y OF FINDINGS AND RE COMMENDA TIONS
213
curriculum and teaching often are unresponsive to the needs and interests
of students especially students of color, English-language learners, or those
who entered high school with weak skills in reading and mathematics.
Students often do not get to know or to be known by their teachers. As a
result, many students experience schools as impersonal and uncaring. Be-
cause few urban schools are closely connected to the communities they
serve or to the educational and career opportunities potentially available to
their students, many students fail to see how working hard in school will
enable them to attain the educational and career goals to which they aspire.
Improving the quality of urban high schools in the United States is
critically important, not only to the futures of the students who attend
them, but also for the future prosperity and quality of life of cities and for
the nation as a whole. Fortunately, knowledge derived from research and
practice provides more than a sufficient basis to proceed with urgently
needed reforms.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The evidence reviewed in this volume leads the committee to the fol-
lowing conclusions and recommendations as a means to achieve the goals
of meaningful engagement and genuine improvements in achievement in
schools serving economically disadvantaged students. Because our delibera-
tions have revealed significant limits in the available evidence, the commit-
tee also specifies directions for future research.
Teaching and Learning
Findings and Recommendations
The evidence is clear that high school courses can be designed to engage
urban high school students and enhance their learning. The instruction
typical of most urban high schools nevertheless fails to engage students
cognitively, emotionally, or behaviorally. As typically taught in urban high
schools, most subject matter appears disconnected and unrelated to stu-
dents' lives outside of school. Students spend much of their time passively
listening to lectures or doing repetitive, formulaic tasks. Instruction and
tasks are commonly very easy or impossibly difficult for many students,
and getting right answers is stressed over understanding.
Evidence on teaching indicates that instruction that draws on students'
preexisting understandings, interests, culture, and real-worId experiences
can make the curriculum more meaningful to them. Students are also more
motivated when they are actively engaged in problem solving and applying
new knowledge to real-worId problems than when traditional textbooks
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ENGAGING SCHOOLS
and worksheets form the core of instruction. Engagement is relatively high
when instruction is varied and appropriately challenging for all students
and when teachers allow students to use their native language abilities and
other resources to master the material and complete tasks. Research also
suggests the value of providing explicit guidance to help students under-
stand and critically analyze, not just memorize, discipline-based knowI-
edge.
Recommendation 1: The committee recommends that high school
courses and instructional methods be redesigned in ways that will increase
adolescent engagement and learning. This recommendation has many im-
plications, such as for teacher training and accountability practices (dis-
cussed below). The evidence reviewed by the committee suggests also that
the following strategies can support efforts to create more engaging high
school instruction:
· creating schools or small learning communities (clusters or "ma-
jors") that have particular academic (e.g., the performing arts, science and
math, environmental issues) or occupational (e.g., health occupations, busi-
ness, biotechnology) foci that capitalize on students' personal interests and
connect to the world outside the school while maintaining high academic
standards;
· providing service learning and internship opportunities in the com-
munity that are directly linked to the academic curriculum; and
· implementing block scheduling (classes meeting in blocks of at least
90 minutes) to allow more sustained attention to a topic.
Instruction that is appropriately challenging for all students requires
considerable knowledge of each student's understanding and skills. Instruc-
tional decisions about tasks and next steps also need to be informed by data
on student learning. Standardized testing done annually does not provide
useful information for these purposes.
Recommendation 2: The committee recommends ongoing ciassroom-
based assessment of students' understanding and skills. We suggest that
teachers monitor continually the effectiveness of curriculum and instruc-
tional practices, not only in terms of learning, but also in terms of keeping
students engaged behaviorally (e.g., attendance, completion of work),
cognitively (e.g., efforts to understand and apply new concepts), and emo-
tionally (e.g., enthusiasm for learning activities). Regular assessments that
include daily classroom interactions and analyses of student work, prefer-
ably with teachers working in groups to assist each other in making judg-
ments about the meaning of students' work and its implications for curricu-
lum and instruction for those students. Development of these assessments
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S UMMAR Y OF FINDINGS AND RE COMMENDA TIONS
215
and of engaging instructional strategies in response to their results, are
critically important for engaging instruction and a necessary complement to
large-scale standardized tests.
:F :F :F
Teaching that involves active student learning and problem solving
requires considerable teacher knowledge about teaching and adolescent
learning as well as a deep understanding of the discipline. Implementing
engaging instruction and effective assessment also require recruiting and
retaining high-quality teachers and strengthening the repertoire of current
teachers who are struggling so that all teachers have a range of available
strategies to use with their students and who are skilled at adapting instruc-
tion to the needs of individual students.
Recommendation 3: The committee recommends that preservice
teacher preparation programs provide high school teachers deep content
knowledge and a range of pedagogical strategies and understandings about
adolescents and how they learn, and that schools and districts provide
practicing teachers with opportunities to work with colleagues and to con-
tinue to develop their skills. Preservice teacher education programs should
provide new teachers with knowledge about student-centered pedagogy
that is focused on understanding, and teach them strategies for involving
students in active learning. Explicit preparation is also important to prepare
new teachers to be effective with diverse, heterogeneous groups of high
school students, including English-language learners, students with special
disabilities, and students who are substantially behind in their basic skills.
Teachers already working in high schools cannot meet the needs of
their students if their own needs for professional development and support
are not met. District- and state-level administrators need to provide re-
sources, experts, and opportunities for teachers to continue to develop their
teaching skills and school administrators need to provide time for teachers
to collaborate with their colleagues and to take advantage of opportunities
for professional development.
Suggestions for Research
Far more research on teaching and learning has focused on elementary
and middle school than on high school. The committee recommends that
more research attention be given to subject matter at the secondary level,
including how curriculum and instructional practices can achieve the twin
goals of meaningful engagement and authentic achievement. Also recom-
mended is attention to the needs of high school-aged, English-language
learners and students who have poor reading skills. There is a serious need
for innovative strategies that help students gain access to subject matter
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ENGAGING SCHOOLS
while they improve English proficiency. Research is also needled to clevelop
and assess strategies for teaching reacting skills to adolescents who reach
high school reacting at the elementary school level, and for embecicling
. . . .,. . . . .
c escape ~ne-spec~c reac sing Instruction In regu" ar courses.
When achievement outcomes are examined in future research, the
achievement measures need to be aligned to instructional goals. Too often,
studies use generic measures of achievement that clo not provide a fair
assessment of the instructional program or an accurate assessment of stu-
clent learning, especially for English-language learners.
Finally, the committee recommencis studies that examine the conditions
uncler which effective, engaging teaching occurs inclucling the effects of
different strategies for teacher clevelopment and collaboration and state and
district requirements related to assessment, curriculum, and curriculum
materials.
Standards and Accountability
Findings and Recommendations
Stanciarcis and high expectations are critical, but they must be genu-
inely achievable if they are to motivate student engagement. Students are
most likely to be academically engaged when they are challenged with
clemancling learning goals and when they have opportunities to experience
a sense of competence and accomplishment about their learning. Setting
high stanciarcis and hoicling students accountable for reaching them can
serve as an incentive to exert effort, but only if students believe they can
succeed. Simply asking students especially those at the bottom of the
achievement distribution to achieve higher stanciarcis without providing
the assistance and support they need is more likely to discourage than to
motivate them.
Recommendation 4: The committee recommends that schools provide
the support and resources necessary to help all high school students to meet
challenging standards. Thus, for example, we urge districts and school
administrators to provide summer programs and tutoring when feasible to
help students who have fallen behind to progress in their skills. While
students work toward meeting the high stanciarcis ultimately required, teach-
ers need to give students more immediate and proximal incliviclualizeci
goals, calibrated to students' preexisting knowledge and skills.
:F :F :F
The tests that are used for accountability have substantial impact on
curriculum and instruction. It is unrealistic to expect teachers to exert effort
to provide a coherent and integrated curriculum and focus on unclerstanci-
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S UMMAR Y OF FINDINGS AND RE COMMENDA TIONS
217
ing and critical thinking and writing if the tools used to evaluate them and
their students measure fragmented, decontextualized, basic skills.
Recommendation 5: The committee recommends that tests used to
evaluate schools, teachers, and students assess high-level, critical thinking
and that they incorporate a broad and multidimensional conception of
subject matter that includes fluency, conceptual understanding, analysis,
and application. The committee recognizes the difficulty of creating and the
cost of implementing such tests, but the nature of high-stakes tests affect the
nature of curriculum and instruction, and thus the level of student engage-
ment. The kind of instructional program that engages youth must, there-
fore, be reflected in high-stakes tests. We also recommend that whenever
stakes are attached to test results, policy makers monitor both intended and
unintended consequences, including their effects on student engagement.
Suggestions for Research
Research that examines the nuanced ways in which high expectations
and standards are conveyed to students is needed. For example, what kinds
of school policies and classroom practices make students fee! that they are
expected to learn and that they are being held accountable for their learn-
ing? How do parents convey high expectations for their adolescents with-
out undermining their sense of autonomy and control?
There is also a critical need for research on the effects of accountability
policies, including high-stakes testing, on student engagement in high school,
with special attention to unintended consequences, such as dropping out.
Research on students' perceptions of the standards and their ability to meet
them would be valuable. Studies should also examine how the effects of
testing on student engagement are moderated by the supports (individual-
ized instruction, tutoring) available to students to help them succeed on the
test.
The committee also recommends research on the effects of high-stakes
testing on teaching and on parents' perceptions of their adolescents' future
educational opportunities. Does the existence of the test, for example, pro-
mote teaching that focuses entirely on answering test items, without consid-
eration for deep understanding of the subject, and does it prompt some
parents to give up their hope of their child graduating from high school? Or
does it engender stronger commitment in teachers and parents to support
student learning?
Creating High School Communities Conducive to Learning
Supportive personal relationships are a critical factor in promoting and
maintaining student engagement. Motivation to learn depends on the
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ENGAGING SCHOOLS
student's involvement in a web of social relationships that support learning.
Most urban high schools are too large and fail to promote close personal
relationships and a sense of community between adults and students. As
much as possible, high schools should be structured to promote supportive
personal relationships among the members of its community; the commit-
tee offers several recommendations toward this end.
Recommendation 6: Districts should restructure comprehensive urban
high schools to create smaller learning communities that foster personalized
and continuous relationships between teachers and students. Restructuring
should focus on allowing teachers to see fewer students and students to see
fewer teachers than is currently typical in urban high schools. Restructuring
can be achieved by starting new schools, by breaking up large schools into
new and completely autonomous schools, or by creating smaller connected
but somewhat autonomous units in large schools. Block scheduling and
looping (teachers staying with the same group of students for multiple
years) are promising strategies for promoting deeper and more continuous
relationships.
Creating small learning communities may be necessary, but it is not
sufficient to improve student engagement. The social climate of the school,
in addition to the quality of instruction, are critical variables. Principals and
teachers need to make concerted efforts to promote an environment of trust
and respect of each other and of students. They need to mode! these
behaviors and refuse to tolerate disrespectful behavior against peers or
adults. A school climate of trust, caring and discipline requires policies that
teach students appropriate ways of responding to perceptions of risk or
threat. The conditions under which refusals to tolerate disrespectful behavior
take place should provide learning opportunities for students and teachers.
Also critical to promoting meaningful student engagement is a social
context centered on learning in which all administrative decisions are
made with their effects on student learning in mind and teachers leverage
their closer relationships with students to "press" students to challenge
themselves and develop deep understanding. This focus can be conveyed
through school policies such as recognizing students who step up to aca-
demic challenges and intervening quickly and preemptively when problems
of poor attendance, failure to complete homework, and poor performance
arise.
:F :F :F
Currently, students who are most at risk of disengaging from school
have too little contact with peers who have strong commitments to educa-
tion and high expectations for success. Groups of students with similar
achievement levels are frequently tracked, formally or informally, into dif-
ferent courses, thus isolating relatively low-performing and disengaged stu-
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S UMMAR Y OF FINDINGS AND RE COMMENDA TIONS
219
dents. In addition to preventing poorly engaged students from interacting
with high-achieving peers, tracking makes inaccessible to students in the
lower academic tracks a rigorous curriculum that prepares them for
postsecondary education. Tracked courses, especially at the low achieve-
ment levels, can also reinforce lower standards and engender in students the
belief that they lack academic competence.
Recommendation 7: The committee recommends that both formal and
informal tracking by ability be eliminated. Alternative strategies should be
used to ensure appropriately challenging instruction for students who vary
widely in their skill levels. Classes that do not prepare but prevent students
getting on to rigorous grade-level work should be eliminated, and challeng-
ing courses, including Advanced Placement courses, should be as available
to students in urban schools serving low-income students as they are in
schools serving more affluent students.
A more challenging curriculum with heterogeneous grouping can be
successful only if teachers are well trained to address individual student
needs. Preservice teacher preparation programs and district and school
administrators need to give teachers support in developing instructional
approaches that meet the needs of a class of students who vary dramatically
in their skill levels. We suggest, in particular, training in individualized and
peer group learning strategies that have been shown to be effective in
promoting learning in a heterogeneous class. Another strategy, used previ-
ously only at the college level but which merits experimentation in high
schools, is connecting tutoring and small-group learning with a reading or
English-as-a-second-language specialist directly to substantive courses.
Thus, rather than isolating students with special needs, the additional assis-
tance that some students need is provided in the context of a regular course
with more skilled peers.
The committee also recommends that school administrators create op-
portunities for low-achieving students to interact with and develop friend-
ships with more academically successful peers and promote a climate in
which students fee! comfortable venturing beyond familiar peer and in-
structional contexts. Because adolescents tend to choose to interact with
students of similar achievement levels, concerted efforts must be made to
create activities that will attract diverse students and make all students fee!
welcome and comfortable.
:F :F :F
Serious social or psychological problems can interfere with adolescents'
own academic engagement as well as undermine a positive learning climate.
Currently many problems are unnoticed or untreated. Professionals who
have relevant expertise are responsible for far too many students and they
have too little time to provide the support and intervention students need.
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ENGAGING SCHOOLS
The problem is especially serious in urban high schools serving low-income
youth, where there are limited resources to address students' social and
psychological problems.
A climate of learning is also undermined by students' lack of under-
standing of the consequences of disengagement from school. Many urban
high school students are poorly informed about postsecondary educational
and career options. In particular, they have only a vague understanding of
what they need to learn during high school to have a realistic chance of
achieving the ambitious educational and career goals to which many aspire.
Because they don't see the connections, students are not motivated to en-
gage in purposeful and challenging academic activities. In most schools,
helping students make these connections is the responsibility of guidance
counselors who oversee large numbers of students and have little opportu-
nity to know their needs.
Recommendation 8: The committee recommends that school guidance
and counseling responsibilities be diffused among school staff, including
teachers, who are supported by professionals. A promising strategy is to
provide every student and family with a member of the school staff who can
act as an adult advocate and who has an expert to consult and to whom
students or families with serious problems can be referred. To help students
achieve a realistic understanding of how their high school learning experi-
ences and mastery of learning objectives are related to their educational and
career options after high school, we suggest also providing students with
experiences in work settings, teachers with curriculum materials and in-
structional supports to integrate rigor and relevance into the core curricu-
lum, as well as close coordination with postsecondary educational institu-
tions.
Suggested Research
The committee recommends research to identify the conditions under
which more respectful and mutually accountable relationships that focus
on learning can be infused into a school community. What, for example, do
principals do in schools that have achieved this climate? What kinds of
opportunities do teachers have to connect with each other, and how are
parents involved? How is teaching organized and how are classes scheduled
in schools that have been successful in creating a socially supportive climate
focused on students' learning? The committee also recommends research
that examines different approaches to financing schools that will allow
lower student-teacher ratios, such as by reducing staff at the district level
and increasing the amount of funding that goes directly to schools.
Studies should attempt to assess independently the effects of small size,
alone, and the conditions (personal relationships, individualized instruc-
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S UMMAR Y OF FINDINGS AND RE COMMENDA TIONS
221
tion, close monitoring of student progress and efforts to address nonaca-
demic needs) that small size may facilitate. Careful documentation of effec-
tive strategies for transitioning large high schools into small learning com-
munities is also needed, along with more rigorous studies on the effects of
school size that include appropriate control groups.
The development and assessment of alternatives to tracking are seri-
ously needed. Heterogeneous grouping poses enormous challenges to teach-
ers, and they need guidance regarding effective strategies for meeting the
needs of students with a wide range of skill levels. Studies of innovative
strategies for providing tutoring, small-group learning, and other supports
to enable students who have low skills to succeed in regular classes would
be extremely useful.
Little research on peer influence has included adolescents in high-pov-
erty communities. Future research needs to look carefully at gender, social
class, and ethnic differences, and it needs to assess the effects that contex-
tual variables (e.g., whether norms of respect and support for cultural and
other differences are present) have on the ways in which peers interact,
form friendships, and influence each other's values and behavior. The com-
mittee also recommends studies of the effects of district policies related to
school choice on the dispersion or concentration of economically disadvan-
taged students.
Finally, research is needed on alternative models for meeting students'
guidance and counseling needs and, more generally, on curricular reform
designed to provide students with a better understanding of the relationship
between learning in high school and postsecondary futures.
Connecting Schools with Other Resources
High schools cannot, by themselves, achieve the high levels of engage-
ment and standards for learning currently asked of them. Most urban high
schools function quite independently of the other adults in adolescents'
lives, such as parents, health care providers, and those involved in extracur-
ricular or religious activities. Many efforts to improve schools are too
"school-centric" in the sense that they focus exclusively on school resources
and programs and fail to take advantage of the resources in the larger
community.
Recommendation 9: The Committee recommends that efforts be made
to improve communication, coordination, and trust among the adults in the
various settings where adolescents spend their time. These settings include
homes, religious institutions, and organized extracurricular activities spon-
sored by schools and community groups.
School administrators and teachers should also expand and enrich the
high school curriculum and help students see the real-worId meaningfulness
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ENGAGING SCHOOLS
of school learning by taking advantage of resources in the community. For
example, artists, civic leaders, and community members and parents with
cultural or historical knowledge and experiences can be invited to schools
to share their knowledge and interact with students. They should also
provide students with opportunities to engage in service learning and in-
ternships that take them into community contexts.
:F :F :F
The committee also finds that most urban schools are unable to deal
with the many problems (e.g., poor physical and mental health, instability
in parenting, substance abuse, homelessness) that some low-income adoles-
cents face and that interfere with their engagement in academic work.
Schools cannot be expected to compensate fully for problems associated
with economic and social inequalities and the lack of effective policies to
address them. However, such problems cannot be ignored by schools in
urban communities with high concentrations of poverty. Although person-
alized, supportive high school communities can help protect adolescents
from environments that place them at risk for negative academic outcomes,
additional specialized services are needed by some high school students.
Policy makers can do more to help students whose personal circumstances
interfere with their ability to learn, and school administrators can make
better use of the resources that are available.
Recommendation 10: The committee recommends that schools make
greater efforts to identify and coordinate with social and health services in
the community, and that policy makers revise policies to facilitate students'
access to the services they need. School administrators often encounter
barriers to partnerships and collaborations with community service provid-
ers. Federal, state, and local policy makers should revise policies so that
they facilitate greater coordination. Administrators in social service and
health agencies and schools should seek ways to improve communication
among school personnel and service providers who see the same adoles-
cents.
Suggested Research
The committee recommends research designed to identify the barriers
to communication and coordination among the various settings in which
adolescents spend their time, and effective strategies for breaking down
those barriers.
Research is also needed on effective strategies for involving parents
productively in high schools, especially in urban contexts in which there are
cultural and language differences between parents and school personnel,
and other factors, such as neighborhood safety issues and work schedules,
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that can impede meaningful connections. Models for connecting schools
and community organizations also need to be developed and evaluated. The
development and assessment of technological tools for improving commu-
nication among the various organizations adolescents frequent would be
useful.
Continued research is needed to identify essential resources and the
principles underlying the effective mobilization and organization of services
that address the multiple, interrelated, nonacademic needs of economically
disadvantaged adolescents. Studies that examine ways to translate students'
circumstances or problems into needs for specific supports that schools can
provide or broker also would be useful. The committee also recommends
the development and evaluation of strategies for providing teachers with
the support they need to identify students' nonacademic needs and respond
to them in a manner that does not detract from the central educational
purposes of their task.
CHALLENGES OF IMPLEMENTATION
Although a few schools and districts have made substantial progress
toward improving urban students' engagement and learning, most efforts
show modest progress at best, and none has been successful on a large scale.
Strategies for getting new and effective instructional practices in place at
one setting are not easily transported to another (e.g., from elementary to
high schools). Guidance for implementing effective curriculum and instruc-
tional approaches needs to be specific enough to give direction, but flexible
enough to be adapted to local contexts. Guidance for implementation and
examples of alternative approaches for adapting the recommended prac-
tices to a particular school or district are a critical part of any school reform
model.
Although much is known about how certain environmental conditions
and educational practices affect student engagement, documentation of
strategies for change and the contextual factors that either inhibit or facili-
tate productive reforms is rare. There is still much more to learn about the
necessary and sufficient conditions for reform as they exist in various com-
munities with different sets of opportunities, resources, and challenges.
More research is needed on the process of school reform: what schools need
to do to implement the knowledge gained from research on effective poli-
. .
cles ant practices.
The urgency of reform must not lead us to seize upon quick fixes or
silver bullets. The research reviewed in this volume illustrates repeatedly
that student engagement and learning are directly affected by a confluence
of instructional practices in particular schools, by family and community
influences, and by a wide range of national, state, and local policies. No
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ENGAGING SCHOOLS
single educational policy or practice, no matter how well grounded in
research, can be expected to increase students' academic engagement if the
policies and practices in which they are embedded are ignored. For ex-
ample, small, personalized schools may not enhance meaningful cognitive
engagement and learning if there is not a strong press for achieving high
academic standards and effective teaching; the most engaging teaching prac-
tices may have little effect on a student who is homeless, has serious un-
treated health problems, or faces the chronic threat of violence. Allowing
students to choose among different small, thematic learning communities
can recreate tracking based on social class, ethnicity, and achievement lev-
els if policies and special efforts are not taken to prevent this from occur-
ring. Furthermore, teachers cannot be expected to provide meaningful and
engaging instruction if they do not have deep knowledge of their subject
matter.
As this volume has demonstrated, student engagement and learning are
affected by a complicated set of nested variables. Some factors affect the
motivation of individual students in specific classrooms of specific high
schools, while others stem from broad policies at the federal or state level
that may affect a large number of very diverse high schools that fall under
its jurisdiction. The array of policies and practices that affect student moti-
vation and learning must be aligned so that efforts in one domain (e.g., the
classroom) are supported rather than undermined by policies at another
(e.g., broader educational and social policies). Although it is neither neces-
sary nor realistic to expect that all potential conflicts be resolved before
students can engage productively in learning, educators and policy makers
should, at the very least, consider how their policies and practices interact
to affect student engagement and learning.
Although the promise of comprehensive school reform models is still
unknown, the committee believes there is value in an approach to school
change that involves consideration of many aspects of district and school
policies and practices including financing, community involvement, school
organization, leadership, teacher professional development, curriculum,
accountability, and assessment. Whether school improvements are based
on existing reform models, or designed locally, a systemic approach is most
likely key to their success.
A fundamental transformation of American high schools and the policy
contexts in which high school education is embedded is needed to engage
all students in learning and to ensure high standards of achievement. There
are no panaceas, and some of the simple solutions that have been proposed,
such as raising standards, can alone do more harm than good. Realistically,
the reforms that are needed will require greater resources than are currently
provided. At the very least, the inequities in resource allocation, with schools
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serving students with the greatest needs having the fewest resources, will
need to be redressed.
The consequences of inaction are severe for the society and for youth
in our urban schools. Ascribing fault and complaining about the larger
social-economic and cultural context, government and social institutions,
fair or not, will not address the serious challenges we face in giving the
nation's youth a realistic chance to succeed in school and in life.
High schools cannot redress all of the problems and inequities of our
society. But schools can do better, and a fair amount is known about what
they need to do to engage students cognitively and emotionally in learning.
For most urban high schools, improvement requires a fundamental rethink-
ing of how they go about their work. Piecemeal reforms will not work.
Alone, none of the recommendations made in this volume will have much
impact. Real progress will be made only if the pieces fit together, so that
policies and practices at one level reinforce policies and practices at other
levels.
As a society, we should not fail our youth by failing to hold them, and
ourselves, to high expectations. There is more to learn, but, as this volume
demonstrates, much is already known about what can be done to increase
the engagement of high school students. What is needed now is the will to
expect and support the application of this knowledge where it is most
needed in our urban high schools.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
engaging schools
