A measure of Student Engagement

Student engagement is important in order to help the students understand and comprehend the content they are learning. Negative behavior occurs in a classroom because students are not engaged in the lesson that the teacher is teaching. The researcher will conduct classroom walkthroughs in order to establish the amount of engagement in the classroom. Research shows that, “Increasing the time students spend meaningfully engaged in learning is associated with increased student achievement” (Valentine, 2010, p. 1). This research will be conducted in a middle school classroom. Middle school is a time where students are starting to learn more in depth content and in order for them to comprehend it they must be engaged. The research will consist of finding techniques in which teachers can use to engage their students in the lesson. The researcher will observe the techniques that teachers are already using in the classroom and measure the level of engagement of the students. Research shows that, “The kind of engagement that optimizes task performance is not simply measurable time on task or attending to a lesson, but rather active engagement in academic tasks – the student is actively doing math, reading material at a non-superficial level, and making strides toward task accomplishment” (Boykin & Noguera, 2011, p. 42). The researcher will observe the students while they are completing math and reading material and measure their active engagement in the material. The researcher will complete and record three observations during different lessons and compare the students’ active engagement in each. This research will show what techniques do or do not promote student engagement in the classroom. It will help find techniques for teachers to implement in their lessons. If students are engaged in the lessons and materials, then they will be more motivated and will have a better understanding of the content