Urban Middle Schoolers' Opportunities to Belong Predict Fluctuations in Their Engagement Across the School Day

• In Event: Connecting Research on Belonging and Motivation: Investigating the Interplay Between Contextual, Individual, and Institutional Factors

Abstract

Objectives
Few studies examine dynamic fluctuations in students’ belonging. We introduce a new approach to assessing the extent to which Black and Latinx sixth-graders experience shifts in their belonging based on the instructional supports provided in their mathematics, language arts, social studies, and science courses. We then examine the extent to which such fluctuations explain changes in these students’ engagement patterns across these core academic subject areas.

Theoretical Perspectives
The Opportunities to Belong framework (Gray et al., 2018) proposes that educators can structure learning environments in ways that help students rise above racialized barriers to school belonging by supporting them interpersonally, instructionally, and institutionally. With respect to instructional supports in the classroom, evidence shows that Black and Latinx students benefit academically and psychologically when teachers provide them with Opportunities to Receive Meaningful Feedback (Maloney & Matthews, 2020; Yeager et al., 2014), Opportunities to Learn Communally (Coleman et al., 2017; Cooper, 2013), Opportunities to Make Real-World Connections (Aronson & Laughter, 2016; Martell, 2013), Opportunities for Emotional Expression (Nasir et al., 2013), Opportunities for Individualized Support (Brooms, 2019; Garza, 2009), and Opportunities to Share Ideas and Opinions (Brown, 2017). Guided by these principles, we highlight the process of co-creating the Opportunities to Belong survey measure for urban middle school students and investigate whether shifts in opportunities to belong predict fluctuations in student engagement across different academic courses.

Method
Opportunities to Belong survey measure for urban middle schoolers was developed in partnership with practicing educators and normed around Black and Latinx 6th grade students (N = 225) from a STEM-focused, magnet middle school in an urban-emergent city. Specifically, we employed community-engaged approaches, including developing a shared vision for the measure with school administrators, supporting educators in choosing from a menu of items based on their practical and contextual relevance, and conducting cognitive interviews in English and in Spanish prior to finalizing the measure. Results of a multilevel confirmatory factor analysis indicated a strong fit for this single-factor measure at both the within-student level (i.e., a student’s belonging ratings in each of their four core academic subject areas—mathematics, language arts, social studies, and science) and the between-student level (i.e., average belonging ratings across students). A within-persons multilevel model revealed that instructional opportunities to belong explained 25% of the variance in behavioral engagement from one academic subject to the next and explained 55% in students’ overall behavioral engagement (controlling for student demographics).

Significance
Existing measures of school belonging do not explicitly elevate the contextual and cultural insights of the educators and students through a co-creation process. The present study highlights the complexity of belonging—suggesting that classroom-based—not just school-based—belonging experiences play a major role in students’ achievement behavior from one achievement setting to the next. Our community-engaged approach has applied research significance for psychologists seeking to develop practically relevant strategies to support administrators and teachers in understanding the power they possess to address students’ belonging vulnerability. Specific community-engaged approaches and their implications will be discussed.

Authors

• DeLeon Gray, North Carolina State University
  Presenting Author

• Brooke Harris-Thomas, Purdue University
  Presenting Author

• Joanna N. Ali, North Carolina State University
  Presenting Author

• Taylor Cummings, North Carolina State University
  Presenting Author

• Tamika L. McElveen, Miami University (OH)
  Presenting Author

• Tamecia R. Jones, North Carolina State University
  Presenting Author