Academic Engagement:  In-school performance and out-of-school time.

by Harriet Shaklee, Family Development Specialist
University of Idaho Cooperative Extension

Laurence Steinberg is frustrated about the poor achievement record of American school children, when compared to age mates in other industrialized countries.  Much energy and expense has been poured into changing the way we educate children, but he sees little result.  He suggests it is time to stop looking within the school walls for the source of the problem and begin looking Beyond the Classroom.    

To investigate this proposal, Steinberg and his assistants spent several years following students over their four years of high school attendance, interviewing   20,000 teenagers and family members in nine different American communities.  Central to his concern is what he terms academic “engagement.”  Engaged students are attentive in class, reliably turn in homework, study for exams, complete tests without cheating, and talk about school issues out of class (i.e. a teacher’s dream student).  Disengaged students are the ones sleeping in the back of class, behind in their homework, who cut classes and are oriented to the social rather than the academic side of school (a.k.a. Bart Simpson).   His studies show over 1/3 of high school students fall into the “disengaged” category, claiming they get through the school day by “goofing off.”    Disturbed by this trend, he set out to understand what factors differentiate engaged from disengaged students.

His findings led him to conclude that all of the educational innovation in the world may not be able to counteract the forces at home and in the community that undercut the value our young people place on education.  Three forces he finds to be especially potent are parents, peers, and jobs.

Parents

Parents have long been identified as primary motivators for student’s achievement.  However, Steinberg’s study helps us understand just how some parents succeed so well at this, while others fail so miserably.  Probably most important is parental support of academic effort.  Home-based efforts such as checking to see that homework is done, or making sure that teens get enough sleep for school are good, but what really carries weight with teenagers is parent participation in events in the school building. 

Parents often think that their teenagers don’t want them hanging around the school building in the high school years, but Steinberg’s study shows clearly that those parents who show up for teens’ performances, athletic events, parent-teacher conferences, or to help with a PTA activity have children who are engaged in the academic side of school life.  Why does this work so well?  Perhaps this is the one sure way for teenagers to get the message that mom and dad really care about school, even enough to put aside other events or a favorite TV show.  Parents also show teachers they care when they come to the school grounds, providing opportunity for that all-important communication about their child’s strengths and weaknesses in school.

The bad news is that Steinberg finds that 25% of parents of high school students are rarely seen at school supporting their children’s achievements.  Children of these parents not only suffer academically, but they are lower in self-reliance, self esteem, social competence, and higher in psychological problems, drug use, and delinquency. 

So what should you do when your kids tell you they’re too old to have mom and dad in the stands cheering them on?  Don’t believe them.  Go to school and be seen by your children and their teachers, so they know the importance you place on school achievement.

 Peers

 Peers have long been suspect as a source of academic underachievement.    Steinberg’s findings would suggest this concern is in order, though he finds peers also can increase achievement, depending on the values of the peer group.   Over the 4 years of high school, he found strong students who moved into unmotivated peer groups and declined in achievement, but also found plenty of cases of poor achievers who began to hang around serious students and increased their school performance. 

 Steinberg also cautions us to look more broadly than the teen’s immediate circle of friends when looking for peer influence.  Just as important an influence is the larger crowd the teenager identifies with.  This is where he or she gets norms and standards of behavior, which may be difficult for parents to challenge.   Parents many never even meet this amorphous group, yet it influences the value teens place on class attendance, what they find fun to do outside of school, whether a high school diploma or college education are seen as important, etc.  Parent decisions about which school the teen attends, or which neighborhood they live in can influence these basic issues of identification.  Limited resource families have less choice in these matters than those with sufficient income, with potential implications for differential opportunity in school success.

 Jobs

 Perhaps the biggest surprise of Steinberg’s analysis is the strong role he finds for employment during the school year as a detriment to school achievement.     American young people’s tendency to have after-school jobs is a sharp contrast to teens in other industrialized countries, where paid employment is rare for adolescents still in school.  American teenagers work an average of 15 to 20 hours per week during the school year.  It is interesting to note that in the 1950’s, less than 5 % of students had school-year jobs, but by 1980 a vast majority of American students were employed.   Furthermore, surveys suggest that almost none of the typical student’s wages go to college savings or toward family expenses.  Rather, they’re using the money to buy cars, clothing, stereos, and support their social activities.   Also, few are working at jobs that could be considered vital training for their future working lives.   Instead, they’re employed in the service industries, a field most will leave behind as they move into adulthood. 

 Finally, the bad news:  working 20+ hours a week during the school year undercuts young people’s commitment to school.   They are less engaged in class work, earn lower grades, spend less time on homework, cheat on exams more often, and have more modest educational aspirations.  Students working long hours are also 33% more likely to drink and experiment with drugs.  All of these adverse consequences are the result of jobs which yield little benefit in terms of job training, meeting basic needs or future college expenses.  Why, as a society, do we continue to promote employment for our high school students?  The good news is that working 10 or less hours a week does not seem to be bad for student performance.  However, half of employed seniors work 20+ hours per week, as do 1/3 of employed juniors, jeopardizing their success in school. 

 Steinberg’s rich data source gives plenty of cause for concern about the way in which our students’ out-of-school time undercuts their commitment to education during school hours.  Teenagers may be present in school, but is their mind on school?  Steinberg suggests there is plenty a family and community can do to increase school engagement, but it will require a commitment to ensure that out of school forces such as family, peers, and community work together to reinforce the academic endeavor, rather than sabotaging it with disinterest, conflicting activities, and anti-intellectual values.   How can we work together to do this?

 ·          Give parents of high school students plenty of opportunities to come to school for events.  Parents, teachers, and school administrators alike often assume that high school students are old enough to be “on their own” when it comes to achievement.  But results from this study show clearly that parent attention to teenager’s school activities and achievement pay off in greater student engagement.  Look for ways to bring parents into the school building on a regular basis, so they can better appreciate their student’s school life.

 ·          Beware the lure of after-school employment.  Employers and parents often think after-school work helps young people by introducing them to the responsibilities of the work-a-day world.  However, it also distracts youth from their job of highest priority: i.e. completing their education.  Encourage parents to restrict school-year employment to 10 hours a week or less, introduce employers to the hazards of long working hours for teenagers, and consider employment regulations limiting work for teenagers attending school.

 ·          Involve youth as a positive influence on their peers through peer education programs.   Steinberg’s study results show that peers are a strong influence on student behavior, whether positive or negative.  Develop community and school-based peer education programs to maximize the positive effects of teenagers on their peers.

This discussion was based on Beyond the Classroom: Why School Reform has Failed and What Parents Need to Do, by Laurence Steinberg, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1996