Brown Center reports on the state of American education are characteristically lucid and informative as well as scrupulously research-based—and they sometimes venture into unfamiliar but rewarding territory. That's certainly the case with the third section of the latest report, which addresses "the intensity with which students apply themselves to learning in school."
Drawing on PISA data (i.e., fifteen year olds), this is an exceptionally timely probe into one of the key temperamental, attitudinal, behavioral, or characterological traits (take your pick of which category it fits best) that may influence both short-term school performance and long-term success. Many people—perhaps taken with the recent attention that's been lavished on student attributes like "grit"—would say, “Of course there's a powerful influence. Why is the matter even worth restating?” But Loveless shows us why, beginning by noting the highly uncertain link between engagement and achievement, at least as both are gauged by PISA, and demonstrating that some countries that best the United States in achievement lag behind us in engagement.
He explains the importance of the "unit of analysis" in all such studies, then goes on to pull PISA's four-part measure of "intrinsic motivation" into its constituent parts and closely examine each of these. And as we accompany him deeper into the issue, it becomes ever clearer that one ought not assume that a higher rating on "intrinsic motivation," at least when applied at the national level, correlates with a country's academic showing.
"Taken together," Loveless writes, “the analyses lead to the conclusion that PISA provides, at best, weak evidence that raising student motivation is associated with achievement gains." Indeed, it may "even produce declines." But the real target of Loveless's findings is the simplistic view that "programs designed to boost student engagement," however worthy they may be for other reasons, can be counted upon to raise achievement. Since they cannot, they do not deserve to be promoted as universal policy nostrums for achievement-hungry lands. Most definitely something to ponder.
SOURCE: Tom Loveless, “2015 Brown Center Report on American Education: How Well Are American Students Learning?: Part III: Student Engagement,” the Brookings Institution (March 2015).
