Relationships: The Key to Student Engagement

The purpose of this study was to determine any variances existing between high school students, middle school students, and upper elementary students among the 3 components of student engagement—emotional, cognitive, and behavioral. In addition, the researcher wanted to verify any differences existing between high school teachers, middle school teachers, and upper elementary teachers among the 3 components of student engagement—emotional, cognitive, and behavioral. The goal was to clarify how students and teachers value the 3 components of engagement. Findings from the student respondents reveal significant differences between 2 of the 3 primary components of student engagement: emotional and cognitive. However, results indicate there was no statistical difference in the behavioral component among the 3 school levels. In contrast, findings from the teacher cohorts differed significantly among behavior engagement and emotional engagement with no significant differences among cognitive engagement. Therefore, results reveal an alarming dissimilarity between the student and teacher respondents on how the 3 components of student engagement are valued.