Report Examines Motivation Among Students

Posted by on December 19, 2003

[posted from Public Education Network newsblast]

REPORT EXAMINES MOTIVATION AMONG STUDENTS

A report unveiled by the National Research Council last week paints a grim picture of high schools unlikely to surprise teachers and students, but argues that those schools can learn from an array of promising changes taking root across the nation. Drawing on years of research in psychology, education, and sociology, “Engaging Schools: Fostering High School Students’ Motivation to Learn” shows that by the time many students reach high school, they often lack any sense of purpose or real connection with what they are doing in the classroom, reports John Gehring. Although the best high schools are filled with well-qualified and caring teachers in a setting where all students are valued, the book-length report says, for too many teenagers, high school has become an impersonal place where low expectations are common. Teachers, administrators, policymakers, and the wider community are encouraged to think more creatively about how school settings and instruction can be tailored to address that sense of alienation. The problem, the analysis says, is even more acute in large urban schools, where many students come from low-income families. “When students from advantaged backgrounds become disengaged, they may learn less than they could, but they usually get by or they get second chances; most eventually graduate and move on to other opportunities,” the report’s executive summary says. “In contrast, when students from disadvantaged backgrounds in high-poverty, urban high schools become disengaged, they are less likely to graduate and consequently face severely limited opportunities.”

http://www4.nationalacademies.org/news.nsf/isbn/0309084350?OpenDocument