Some schools realize their student engagement problem the hard way: a surge in discipline, a crisis in attendance, a wave of teacher exodus in one spring. Others suffer from engagement issues that are not officially diagnosed, but can affect everything from test scores to teacher retention.
To solve an engagement problem, schools need to understand it, and what to look for in the first place.
Schools that want to improve engagement do not need an audit. They need to know what to look for in the first place.
There are 5 signs schools need to develop a student engagement curriculum for schools, and why one values-based solution is a better solution to the engagement crisis than just tweaking the edges of the engagement crisis.
1. Referrals Increase
A slow increase in office referrals does not start with a class of “defiant” students.
As a result of students not being able to get involved in a classroom’s mission or message, students look for less constructive ways to be seen and heard.
If your school is seeing a surge in disciplinary issues, keep in mind that not punishment levels but investment matter most: a student who feels listened to is less apt to disrupt the class to get attention, even if they feel the punishment is unfair.
2. Attendance Decreases
Student attendance is a referendum on how engaged students are with school.
Every day they consciously decide to go or not based on how valuable school is. Research links weakening attendance to a diminished sense of belonging, especially in middle school (PMC).
If attendance drops, it usually is not a result of a proximate cause such as an inaccessible bus route or a student’s home circumstances. That’s a sign that students feel less and less like they belong.
3. Passive Compliance
Not all engagement problems are in the simplest of ways such as attendance or referrals.
They may look like a class of students who show up but don’t do more than the bare minimum.
According to Gallup’s research on the student engagement “cliff,” engagement diminishes from fifth grade to high school and by the upper grades roughly two-thirds of students report feeling disengaged from school (Gallup). Such lack of engagement often leads to passive compliance with classroom rules and tasks. A classroom full of compliant students is an engagement problem waiting to happen.
4. Teacher Turnover
Teachers do not leave schools for the curriculum. They leave for the culture. And a school culture that fails to nurture student voice and involvement often fails teachers as well.
A school with an engagement problem will see that reflected in the adults as well. When student referrals go up or attendance drops, morale tends to do the same, especially if they make extra work for teachers.
If your school has an engagement problem, it almost certainly has a morale problem. If your teachers’ exit interviews keep circling back to classroom culture, take it as a sign their engagement is being stifled, too.
5. Students Who Don’t Know Each Other’s Names
That is the sign that administrators would miss, because it doesn’t show up in a spreadsheet.
Ask a student in a school with an engagement problem to name three people in other classes, other cliques, or other grade levels, and the silence will speak volumes.
A school where students are disengaged with each other is an engagement crisis waiting to happen. Students who are isolated tend to learn less quickly and recover less easily from larger shocks like a new teacher or curriculum.
One Curriculum Solution That Works
Each of these five warning signs is based on a deeper current of disengagement with school culture.
So many schools’ engagement solutions tend to be based on the wrong priorities: disciplining disruptive kids rather than nurturing compliant ones, incentivizing attendance rather than exploring what students feel they don’t belong.
Growing Leaders’ iLead student engagement curriculum tackles the root cause of these engagement crises by turning rows of passive learners into circles of courageous, values-driven leaders.
Rather than trying to control the symptoms of disengagement, leaders who want to change school culture can invest in a student engagement curriculum for schools that focuses on leadership, voice and involvement.
As a result, by encouraging students to practice leadership with their peers and hold each other up, iLead is a more substantial change for students who have to know they belong somewhere.
Schools that follow iLead see a 78% reduction in discipline referrals from high-participation groups and 92% of educators report improved classroom culture after just one cycle (Growing Leaders). Those two numbers translate into signs one and three: referrals drop and passive compliance gives way to real participation.
This approach to student engagement is also seen in Rwanda, where a multi-year rollout in schools with the Ministry of Education has brought over 100,000 children. At each stage of these processes, the same student engagement curriculum for schools has worked to address school culture problems that were not so simple to resolve at first. The same can be said for Argentina, where over 200,000 leaders have been trained with the same values-based approach.
The same values-focused approach works across cultures because it recognizes the root of disengagement: students who need to engage not just in school, but with school.
Everything Rises and Falls on Leadership, Including Engagement
Whether you want to target these five signs of an engagement crisis one by one or tackle the root cause, consider a student engagement curriculum for schools that is focused on leadership. Students who think they are leaders in their learning and classroom are far more likely to engage with school as a whole, resulting in a ripple effect that solves multiple problems at once.
If your school has these five warning signs, consider what a student engagement curriculum for schools can do to create lasting change. Visit growingleaders.com to learn how iLead helps schools cultivate student leaders and reset school culture for the better.
