Abstract

Adolescents’ school engagement is associated with high school completion; yet, few studies have examined interventions to improve school engagement for English Learners (ELs). In this mixed-methods study, we conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to examine the effects of two years of the Check & Connect intervention on engagement outcomes (i.e., a self-report engagement questionnaire, attendance, disciplinary referrals, and course failures) of 358 high school ELs with reading comprehension difficulties. No significant differences were found between the treatment and comparison groups on a self-report questionnaire’s subscales of behavioral disengagement (ES = −0.14), psychological engagement (ES = −0.22), academic and cognitive engagement (ES = −0.12), student-teacher relationships (ES = −0.10), and goal-setting and problem-solving (ES = −0.11), or on measures of attendance, disciplinary referrals, and core course failures. Then, we conducted qualitative interviews with a subset of the participants (n = 34) from the RCT to explore their perceptions of their engagement and the contextual factors affecting their engagement. Although interviewed participants reported being generally engaged in school, this finding was not corroborated by their interview responses nor other indicators of engagement collected during the efficacy study. Participants reported positive relationships with their Check & Connect mentors; however, these relationships were not sufficient to facilitate participants’ academic, behavioral, or cognitive engagement. Implications for implementing Check & Connect with high school ELs with reading comprehension difficulties and measuring engagement with this population are discussed.

Impact Statement

This study tested the effects of Check & Connect, an intervention designed to improve students’ engagement with school, with 358 high school English learners (ELs) with reading comprehension difficulties. The intervention did not have a significant impact on participants’ self-reported engagement, attendance, behavior referrals, or course grades. Schools that implement Check & Connect with high school ELs with reading comprehension difficulties should consider reducing mentor’s caseloads to better support students’ engagement.

摘要

青少年的学校参与度与高中毕业有关；然而，很少有研究考察提高英语学习者 (EL) 学校参与度的干预措施。在这项混合方法研究中，我们进行了一项随机对照试验 (RCT)，以检验两年的Check & Connect干预对参与结果（即自我报告的参与问卷、出勤率、纪律处分转介和课程失败）的影响) 的 358 名有阅读理解困难的高中 EL。在自我报告问卷的行为脱离（ES = -0.14）、心理参与（ES = -0.22）、学业和认知参与（ES = −0.12）、师生关系（ES = −0.10）、目标设定和问题解决（ES = −0.11），或考勤、纪律处分和核心课程失败的衡量标准。然后，我们对 RCT 的一部分参与者 ( n = 34)进行了定性访谈， 以探讨他们对参与度的看法以及影响他们参与度的背景因素。尽管接受采访的参与者报告说他们一般都在学校学习，但这一发现并未得到他们的采访答复或效能研究期间收集的其他参与指标的证实。参与者报告了与他们的Check & Connect的积极关系导师；然而，这些关系不足以促进参与者的学业、行为或认知参与。讨论了对有阅读理解困难的高中 EL实施检查和联系以及衡量与该人群的参与度的影响。

影响声明

这项研究测试了 Check & Connect 的效果，Check & Connect是一种旨在提高学生对学校的参与度的干预措施，有 358 名有阅读理解困难的高中英语学习者 (EL)。干预对参与者自我报告的参与度、出勤率、行为推荐或课程成绩没有显着影响。与有阅读理解困难的高中 EL 实施检查和联系的学校应考虑减少导师的案例量，以更好地支持学生的参与。