My Students Are MIA: Student Engagement as Structural Engagement During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: Educator Trauma and Well-Being

Abstract

During the 2020 pandemic in the United States, emergency remote learning laid bare the complexities of student engagement. This study--a nationwide survey of over 700 PK-12 teachers--fills the gap in the literature for understanding and solving these complexities. The findings of this study contribute a new concept of engagement to Fredricks et al.’s (2004) behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement--structural engagement. Results of the study suggest that the structural inequities inherent in U.S. schools and exacerbated by emergency remote learning play a critical role in the ability, extent, and quality of student engagement; results highlight strategies teachers can use to mitigate those inequities and the structural changes educational policymakers should address.

Authors

• Andrea Michelle Cayson, Bridgewater State University

• Heather Pacheco-Guffrey, Bridgewater State University

• Jeanne Carey Ingle, Bridgewater State University

• Melissa Winchell, Bridgewater State University