Excerpted and paraphrased from the ASCD InfoBrief, The Whole Child:
A Framework for Education in the 21st Century,
Dan Laitsch, Theresa Lewallen and Molly McCloskey, February 2005

Students in the Classroom

Classroom instruction must be constructed with the students, as well as the course content, in mind. How the student will interact with and access the curriculum is as important as the curriculum content itself; teachers wanting to address the holistic needs of children structure their classes in such a way as to facilitate student involvement and engagement in learning activities.

In some classes, teachers engage students in creating their own academic and behavioral expectations, rules, and guidelines. By building a common vision for learning, students become more invested in positive outcomes and realize the power of their own responsibility for success (Willis, 1996). When problems arise, students are then empowered to make positive change within the value system they created and adopted.

Research on teacher-student relationships confirms the power of strengthening student engagement in schools (Klem & Connell, 2004). Students report being more engaged in classes where they feel that their teachers create caring, structured classes and hold high expectations that are clear and fair. Such heightened engagement in middle- and elementary-level students is associated with better attendance and higher achievement-which are also associated with completing school and going on to higher learning.

Reforming Schools to Engage Students

At the school level, a system that fully engages the individual child builds on the connections among students, adults, and the community. In June 2003, an interdisciplinary group of educators convened at the Wingspread conference center in Racine, Wisconsin, to synthesize the diverse body of research on student engagement. The results of their work highlight the critical importance of holding students to high expectations, building positive adult-student relationships, and ensuring students' physical and emotional safety. Across racial, ethnic, and income groups, increasing connectedness strengthens academic performance, school completion, student motivation, and classroom engagement and reduces negative behaviors such as absenteeism, bullying, vandalism, classroom disruption, substance use, and early sexual activity.