Affective profiles and academic success in a college science course

The current study identified affective profiles and examined their relations to behavioral engagement and disengagement as well as achievement among undergraduate students enrolled in a college anatomy course (N = 278). Cluster analysis was used to identify four affective profiles: Positive, Deactivated, Negative, and Moderate-Low. Students in the Positive and Deactivated profiles were more engaged, less disengaged, and earned higher grades on subsequent exams than those in Moderate-Low and Negative profiles, which did not differ from one another. Subsequent analyses indicated that the relation of affective profiles to achievement was mediated through engagement. Results provide support for the importance of examining students’ mixed affective experiences in terms of both valence and activation dimensions, adding important contributions to largely variable-oriented literature on academic affect and its relation to engagement and achievement.     

Student Engagement and School Burnout in Finnish Lower-Secondary Schools: Latent Profile Analysis

Self-ratings of behavioural engagement, cognitive engagement and school burnout were used in person-centred analyses to identify latent profiles among 2,485 Finnish lower-secondary school students. Three profiles were identified: high-engagement/low-burnout (40.6% of the sample), average-engagement/average-burnout (53.9%), and low-engagement/high-burnout (5.5%). Another sample of lower-secondary school students was used to validate the 3 profiles. The factors most strongly associated with the high-engagement/low-burnout profile of lower-secondary school students’ were high levels of support from teachers and family, good academic performance, and lack of truancy. The study indicated that teacher and family support and students’ academic achievement are pivotal in understanding student engagement and school burnout.     

A person‐in‐context approach to student engagement in science: Examining learning activities and choice

Science education reform efforts in the Unites States call for a dramatic shift in the way students are expected to engage with scientific concepts, core ideas, and practices in the classroom. This new vision of science learning demands a more complex conceptual understanding of student engagement and research models that capture both the multidimensionality and contextual specificity of student engagement in science. In a unique application of person‐oriented analysis of experience sampling data, we employ cluster analysis to identify six distinct momentary engagement profiles representing different combinations of the behavioral, cognitive, and affective dimensions of student engagement in high school science classrooms. Students spend a majority of their classroom time in one of several engagement profiles characterized by high engagement on one dimension, but low levels on the others. Students exhibited low engagement across all three dimensions of engagement in about 22% of our observations. Full engagement, or high levels across all three dimensions, is the least frequent profile, occurring in only 11% of the observations. Students’ momentary engagement profiles are related in meaningful ways to both the learning activity in which students are engaged and the types of choices they are afforded. Laboratory activities provided especially polarized engagement experiences, producing full engagement, universally low engagement, and pleasurable engagement in which students are affectively engaged but are not engaged cognitively or behaviorally. Student choice is generally associated with more optimal engagement profiles and the specific type of choice matters in important ways. Choices about how to frame the learning activity have the most positive effects relative to other types of choices, such as choosing whom to work with or how much time to take. Results are discussed in terms of implications for practice and the utility of the methodological approach for evaluating the complexities of student engagement in science classrooms. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 88: 19–43, 2018     

Adaptability,engagement and academic achievement at university

University entry is a time of great change for students. The extent to which students are able to effectively navigate such change likely has an impact on their success in university. In the current study, we examined this by way of adaptability, the extent to which students’ adaptability is associated with their behavioural engagement at university, and the extent to which both are associated with subsequent academic achievement. A conceptual model reflecting this pattern of predicted relations was developed and tested using structural equation modelling. First-year undergraduate students (N = 186) were surveyed for their adaptability and behavioural engagement at the beginning of their first year. Following this, students’ academic achievement was obtained from university records at the end of Semester 1 and 2 of first-year university. Findings showed that adaptability was associated with greater positive behavioural engagement (persistence, planning, and task management) and lower negative behavioural engagement (disengagement and self-handicapping). Moreover, negative behavioural engagement was found to inversely predict academic achievement in Semester 1, which predicted academic achievement in Semester 2. The educational implications of the findings are discussed.     

Student agency at the crux: Mitigating disengagement in middle and high school

Considerable evidence indicates that students’ academic motivation and engagement generally decline as they move through middle school and on to high school. This study applied social cognitive theory to explore how self-efficacy and perceived control—two main factors of personal agency—may play a role in mitigating this decline in engagement and further contribute to academic performance. We used dual change score modeling to examine the dynamic structure of personal agency and disengagement during grades 8–10 for a large sample of students from the Pacific Northwest in the U.S. In that model, we analyzed how those variables predicted grade point average and attendance for students at the end of 10th grade. Students did not necessarily become more disengaged as a result of lower perceptions of control, rather they became more disengaged without the resilience factor of self-efficacy. The actual influence of disengagement on attendance and academic performance appears to be far weaker than the role of personal agency factors. Our results indicate that when student’s self-efficacy drops, disengagement in school increases during the years transitioning to high school. Increased disengagement weakens perceived control and change in both the control and self-efficacy dimensions of personal agency drive academic performance. Schools should prioritize the development of personal agency in each student during the middle school to high school transition years.     

Engagement profiles of elementary students in urban schools

This study identified engagement profiles and examined their relations to student characteristics (gender, grade, socioeconomic status) as well as mathematics and reading achievement among elementary students attending urban schools in the southeastern part of the United States (N = 564). Using latent profile analysis, four engagement profiles were identified including a Moderately Engaged, Globally Disengaged, Affectively Disengaged, and Behaviorally Disengaged profile. Subsequent analyses showed that grade level was a statistically significant predictor of profile membership, and the Moderately Engaged profile was associated with higher mathematics achievement compared to the Affectively Disengaged profile. Results contribute to the growing body of person-centered work that indicates that students’ engagement cluster into unique configurations of global, behavioral, affective, cognitive, and social engagement, which have important implications for their academic achievement.     

Achievement goal orientations and academic well-being across the transition to upper secondary education

The aim of this study was to examine students' (N = 579) achievement goal orientation profiles, the temporal stability of these profiles across the transition to upper secondary education, and profile differences in academic well-being (i.e., school value, school burnout, schoolwork engagement, satisfaction with educational choice). By means of latent profile analysis, four groups of students with distinct motivational profiles were identified: indifferent, success-oriented, mastery-oriented, and avoidance-oriented. Motivational profiles were relatively stable across the transition; half of the students displayed identical profiles over time and most of the changes in the group memberships were directed towards neighboring groups. Regarding group differences, indifferent and avoidance-oriented students showed less adaptive patterns of motivation and academic well-being than did mastery- and success-oriented students. Both mastery- and success-oriented students were highly engaged in studying and found their schoolwork meaningful, although success-oriented students' stronger concerns with performance seemed to make them more vulnerable to school burnout.     

Student engagement and mathematics achievement: Unraveling main and interactive effects

The present study explored the relationships between student engagement and mathematics achievement for 295,416 15‐year‐old students from 11,767 secondary schools in 34 countries who participated in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012. Affective engagement was measured by students’ mathematics interest (InterestMath) and perceived usefulness of schooling (PerceptionSch), behavioral engagement by behaviors facilitating mathematics learning (BehaviorMath) and participation in mathematics learning activities (ActivitiesMath), and cognitive engagement by openness (Openness) and perseverance (Perseverance) in problem‐solving. Results showed that students who were more engaged had higher levels of academic achievement, with cognitive engagement having the strongest association with achievement. Results also showed that students who were highly engaged in two domains had higher achievement levels than peers who were engaged in only one domain in six pairwise comparisons (InterestMath‐BehaviorMath, InterestMath‐Openness, InterestMath‐Perseverance, PerceptionSch‐BehaviorMath, PerceptionSch‐Openness, PerceptionSch‐Perseverance). These results highlighted the importance of a whole‐school based approach in enhancing student achievement.     

Profiling individual differences in student motivation: A longitudinal cluster-analytic study in different academic contexts

This research examined whether distinct student profiles emerged from measures of interest, mastery goals, task value, and self-efficacy in samples of Norwegian student nurses and business administration students. Additionally, profile differences in self-reported strategy use and epistemological beliefs were examined, as well as changes in student profiles over one academic year. Distinct groups of participants were identified in both samples, with considerable consistency in student profiles across the two academic contexts. In both contexts, more positively motivated participants consistently reported more use of deeper-level strategies and expressed more sophisticated beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowledge acquisition. The longitudinal analysis showed that despite overall decreases in adaptive motivation in both contexts, many participants were able to maintain relatively high levels of motivation across the academic year, and, especially among the business administration students, quite a few developed more adaptive motivation over time. Yet, a great many participants in both samples lost some of their enthusiasm and engagement.     

Depression and School Engagement among Norwegian Upper Secondary Vocational School Students

There seems to be limited work addressing how depression is linked to elements of student functioning in the school setting other than academic achievement. This study investigated possible correlates of depressive symptoms with school engagement and disengagement. We examined four specific school variables (school motivation, intentions to quit, absence, and truancy) in a sample of 791 adolescents between 15 and 18 years of age in a Norwegian upper secondary vocational school. The results indicated that symptoms of depression could be a risk factor for school disengagement, and particularly for intentions to quit school. However, as only moderate associations were found, it appears that many depressed students manage to keep up their school engagement. This applied to both genders. However, the findings underline the importance of developing effective methods to identify and help depressed students who do have difficulty keeping up school engagement. Implications for practice are suggested.     

Science classroom activities and student situational engagement

This study examines the association between student situational engagement and classroom activities in secondary school science classrooms in Finland and the U.S. Situational engagement is conceptualised as times when students feel that a task is interesting and challenging to them and that they have the skills to complete it (see Schneider et al., 2016. Investigating optimal learning moments in U.S. and Finnish science classes. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 53(3), 400–421. doi:10.1002/tea.21306). Data on situational engagement and classroom activities were obtained using the experience sampling method (ESM) from 247 Finnish students in 13 secondary science classrooms and 281 U.S. students in 18 secondary science classrooms. In both samples, the students tended to be situationally engaged only a small proportion of the time during their science classes. However, the Finnish students were more likely than the U.S. students to report being situationally engaged. To investigate when the students were most likely to report being situationally engaged, hierarchical logistic regression models were employed, which suggested that some classroom activities were associated with higher levels of student situational engagement than others. The Finnish students were more likely to report being situationally engaged when calculating and presenting scientific information. In the U.S., the students were more likely to report being situationally engaged while discussing scientific information and less likely when listening to the teacher. The results suggest that situational engagement is momentary and associated with specific science classroom activities.     

Student Engagement at a Large Suburban Community College: Gender and Race Differences

Previous research shows that there are individual differences in academic achievement associated with gender and race. Research also suggests that student engagement is an important determinant of student outcomes/achievement. The present study explored student engagement at an extra-large community college. It specifically investigated possible individual differences in student engagement and explored how it maps on to student achievement. As predicted, the results indicate that there are gender and race differences in student engagement—females show greater engagement than males, and African-American students show greater engagement than students of other races. The results are discussed in the context of student achievement as indicated by students’ self-reported GPAs.     

Classroom behaviour and academic achievement: how classroom behaviour categories relate to gender and academic performance

Latent profile analysis was used to identify different categories of students having different ‘profiles’ using self-reported classroom behaviour. Four categories of students with unique classroom behaviour profiles were identified among secondary school students in Oslo, Norway (n = 1570). Analyses examined how classroom behaviour categories are related to gender and school performance and whether a dual understanding of gender in school is helpful when trying to explain achievement differences as supposed to classroom behaviour categories. Analyses showed that gender was a better predictor of school achievement than classroom behaviour categories, even though the behaviour categories did contribute to the explanation of variance in students’ academic marks above and beyond gender.     

Achievement Profiles of Students in High School Vocational Training Programs

Vocational training (VT) allows young people to receive specialized training in a short period and enter the labor market with a qualification. However, VT is often seen as an unglamorous educational route, despite the fact that there are few admission requirements and that it prepares students for jobs with good conditions. Furthermore, the characteristics of VT students have been poorly documented empirically. To fill this gap, this study first examined the achievement profiles of 368 VT students based on three criteria: academic performance, academic persistence, and behavioral engagement. A two-step classification provided four groups: three profiles of students who persisted and successfully completed their training program and a fourth profile of students who withdrew from their program. The motivational and individual characteristics of the students from each profile were then examined based on six variables: motivation (self-efficacy and task value [importance, interest, cost, and perceived utility value of the training program]), gender, and age. The results showed that the profiles differed based on all the characteristics examined except student gender. Overall, the data contribute to better understanding the characteristics of VT students, which may guide teaching practices to better ensure the success of these students.     

Student engagement as a mediator of the effects of socio-economic status on academic performance among secondary school students in Australia

In this article, we contribute to understanding of the mechanisms through which students’ socio-economic family background can translate into academic performance by focusing on the concept of student engagement. Drawing on theoretical perspectives from disciplines across the social sciences, and a major nationally representative dataset from Australia, which links survey responses with administrative records on school performance, we conduct a series of multiple regression models to investigate the mediating role of student engagement on the relationship between students’ socio-economic status (SES) and academic achievement. We find that, first, low-SES students show lower levels of engagement than other students, particularly in terms of behavioural and cognitive aspects; they also have lower achievement levels as measured by standardised test scores. We further find that lower engagement is associated with lower achievement levels, and that the effects of SES on achievement are partially mediated through student engagement. Although there are clearly other mechanisms in place that operate at the same time, it is important to focus on student engagement since it can be directly influenced by teachers and school leaders, as well as curriculum choices and school resources. This makes it a ripe target for government policies aimed at improving educational outcomes for students from low-SES families, compared with approaches targeting the influences of family environment or peer groups.     

Student Engagement and Student Learning: Testing the Linkages*

This study examines (1) the extent to which student engagement is associated with experimental and traditional measures of academic performance, (2) whether the relationships between engagement and academic performance are conditional, and (3) whether institutions differ in terms of their ability to convert student engagement into academic performance. The sample consisted of 1058 students at 14 four-year colleges and universities that completed several instruments during 2002. Many measures of student engagement were linked positively with such desirable learning outcomes as critical thinking and grades, although most of the relationships were weak in strength. The results suggest that the lowest-ability students benefit more from engagement than classmates, first-year students and seniors convert different forms of engagement into academic achievement, and certain institutions more effectively convert student engagement into higher performance on critical thinking tests. *A version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, April 2004.     

The meaning of student engagement and disengagement in the classroom context: lessons from organisational behaviour

Despite the popularity of student engagement and, by association, student disengagement, the academic literature is unclear about the meaning of these terms. This review extends existing conceptual studies of student engagement by offering clear definitions and conceptualisations of both student engagement and disengagement in the classroom context. To develop these conceptualisations, the present review draws upon organisational behaviour theory on work engagement and disengagement because the literature in this discipline is notably more refined than in educational research. Using an organisational behaviour backdrop, student engagement and disengagement are defined by the degree of students’ activation and pleasure. In order to operationalise student engagement, measures that are aligned with the proposed conceptualisation are recommended. Recommendations are also suggested for the development of a measure of student disengagement. The proposed measurement of student engagement and disengagement should provide a unified direction for future empirical research on these topics.     

A person-centered approach to examining high-school students’ motivation,engagement and academic performance

This study examined the relationship among motivation, engagement, and academic performance through a person-centered research approach. Participants included 10,527 students in grades 9 to 12 from twenty public high schools across the state of Ohio in the United States. Latent profile analysis revealed seven profiles of academic motivation including the amotivated, externally regulated, balanced demotivated, moderately motivated, identified/externally regulated, balanced motivated, and autonomously motivated profile groups. Students in these motivational profiles exhibited differences in cognitive and social engagement, as well as academic performance. In addition, multiple-group path analysis revealed different patterns of relationship among cognitive engagement, social engagement, and GPA, suggesting that motivational profile membership moderated the relationship between engagement and academic performance.     

Student engagement: rhetoric and reality

Recently, there has been much interest in higher education literature and policy on the concepts of student engagement and disengagement. While most academic writings recognise the significance of student engagement, they have tended to concentrate on it in relation to academic activities. Increasingly, universities are ‘cascading’ down the need to improve student engagement to schools and ultimately to individual academics. This article asserts that ideas about student engagement in the university context are often fragmented, contradictory and confused. Even the meaning of the term ‘student engagement’ is uncertain. Further, while government and universities urge attention to student engagement, many of their actions, it may be argued, have contributed to greater student disengagement. Relying on the available literature, we argue that the student experience as a whole is the key to engagement and, thus, efforts to re-engage students cannot be successful until a ‘whole-of-university’ approach is adopted.     

Listening to teachers–listening to students: substantive conversations about resistance,empowerment and engagement

This article examines contemporary research and debates about pedagogies of engagement that challenge the traditional assumptions and understandings of engagement. Three contesting epistemological constructions of student engagement are identified and examined through the contesting and resisting voices of teachers and students. The article's research suggests that an empowering and resistant pedagogy can (re)conceive student engagement so that it achieves the twin goals of social justice and academic achievement.