The effect of school institutional factors on school engagement among students in middle level schools.

Abstract

This study explores the extent to which school institutional factors affect school engagement among students in middle-level schools. Based on the theoretical literature on engagement and alienation, student engagement is defined through three distinct dimensions--academic involvement, social belonging, and the absence of deviant behaviors. This study suggests that student engagement may be increased by incorporating modifications into three institutional factors: school organization/structure, forms of instruction, and school climate. Data for the study are drawn from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88), a nationwide sample of eighth-grade students. The selected sample permit a cross-sectional, multi-level analysis of data collected from students enrolled in the eighth grade in 1988 and includes 11,753 students from 616 schools. These data were analized using the computer program HLM2L to estimate a hierarchical linear model. Results of the HLM analysis provide evidence that indicate that size and level of departmentalization of schools are important organizational structure variables that have effects on some dimensions of both, school climate and student engagement. Particularly, smaller, less departmentalized schools foster a greater sense of social belonging among their students by creating school environments that are perceived by students as supportive and orderly. The student's perceptions of school climate have a strong effect on all indicators of student engagement. Evidence suggests that students in middle-level schools who perceive their school to be more orderly and supportive are more engaged in school. However, several statistical tests conducted in this study suggest that instead of an "institutional school climate," schools have numerous microclimates that vary immensely among themselves even within a school.