Understanding the Impact of Belonging and Safety on the Academic Engagement of English Learners

• In Event: Culturally Responsive Schooling in Urban Education

Abstract

Responding to racial tensions at a high school in the Northeastern U.S., the school district engaged the research team to determine possible causes and recommendations to prevent racial tension and violence. Building on a theoretical frame that maintains academic engagment is related to students’ sense of belonging and safety, the current study employs multiple regression analyses and ethnography to examine the factors that contribute to the academic engagement, sense of belonging, and experience of security within a cohort of English Learners. The regression analyses coupled with ethnographic data suggest that the district, and school-based policy and procedures around English Learners can contribute to student tensions and low-levels of academic engagement across the school.

Authors

• Bryan Rosenberg, New York University

• Margary Martin, New York University