Analyzing Profiles of Student Engagement Dispositions

• In Event: Antecedents and Consequences of Academic Engagement

Abstract

Drawing from a nationally representative sample of over 12,500 students attending Public High Schools in the United States, this study used Latent Class Analysis (LCA) to analyze different profiles of student engagement dispositions (SED). In this study, SED was conceptualized as an umbrella concept that subsumes students’ school belonging and identification as well as their academic competence and motivation. Guided by this conceptualization, six characteristically distinct profiles of SED were culled from the data. These profiles included students who possessed “model student” attributes as well as others who experienced school ambivalence and disidentification. When viewed together, these findings highlight needs for educational practices and innovations that attend to the unique strengths, competencies, and challenges of particular student sub-populations.

Author

• Michael A. Lawson, Binghamton University - SUNY