School Engagement Model

learning and personal development. These conclusions gave birth to ‘schools do not make a difference’ interpretation of their work. Later, theorists started focusing on the school environment. Eccles et al. (1993) developed a person-environment fit theory of school engagement. This model incorporates both the individual and the environment in which the child is situated. It focuses on the contribution of the educational environment to psychosocial and academic adjustment of children. Another example of such work was by Goodenow (1993). Goodenow developed a theoretical framework called “psychological membership” which refers to one’s sense of caring, support, and acceptance in the school environment. The results from her work showed that psychological membership of the child with the school environment was strongly related to achievement. In 1996, Catalano & Hawkins developed a theory of antisocial and pro-social behavior which was geared towards the development of children and adolescents. They called it as the ‘social development model’. This model posits that all behaviors are influenced by a variety of forces such as the risk and protective factors.

One such model was identification-participation model of school engagement by Finn (1989). In this model, identification is referred to the emotional component, which includes feelings of belonging and the perceived worth of schooling. Participation refers to the behavioral component of engagement, which includes how often students participate in the classroom and in school activities. Rumberger and Larson (1998) also developed a two pronged model of engagement made up of social and academic components. In this model social engagement is similar to Finn’s description of participation and is defined by participation in school related activities, class attendance and rule