From Research to Schoolwide Intervention: Authentic Voices From the Field of Education

• In Event: Agentic Engagement: A New, Important, and Progress-Enabling Educational Construct

Abstract

Purpose
The purpose of Study 1 (quantitative study) was to demonstrate that peer support predicts agentic engagement over and above teachers’ need-support. The purpose of Study 2 (qualitative case study) was to report the changes that resulted from a school wide intervention that focused on agentic engagement.

Theoretical Framework
Both studies were theoretically grounded in self-determination theory (SDT; Ryan & Deci, 2017) and drew specifically on the concept of agentic engagement (Reeve, 2013). SDT studies on how children's support or suppress each other's needs is scant and was the focus of Study 1. Qualitative and school-wide interventions using agentic engagement as a guiding principle are non-existent and was the focus of Study 2.

Methods
Study 1. The sample included 616 elementary-school students in grades five (50.3%) and six (49.7%), 50.6% girls; mean age = 11.25 (SD = 0.68), in a large urban area. The students were enrolled in 24 classes in 6 large public schools, whose populations come from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. The students completed self-report surveys concerning their perceptions of need-support by teachers and peers, their motivation (autonomous/controlled), and their agentic engagement/disengagement.

Study 2. One elementary school adopted the concept of agentic engagement and implemented its principles in an intervention program that included teachers and students. The school developed a unique SDT-based educational approach and devised a wide range of practices to promote agentic students. The study included semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 15 teachers and 12 students.

Results
Study 1. Path analysis using structural equation modeling supported our hypothesis (CMIN/DF = 2.76, CFI = .99, RMSEA = .05), indicating that peer support is associated with autonomous motivation, which in turn leads to agentic engagement; perceived peer-frustration was associated with controlled motivation, which in turn led to disengagement (after controlling for perceived teachers’ support and frustration).

Study 2. Interview protocols indicated that the teachers accepted and internalized principles central to SDT and agentic engagement in that they employed SDT's theoretical language to describe their work and volunteered a range of practices designed to support students’ needs and encourage their proactivity and agency. They described changes in both teachers and students alike. The teachers defined "agentic engagement" as setting goals (personal, academic and social ones) and as being aware of one's own needs and wants and pursuing them proactively. The interviews with students indicated a proactive approach to learning and to social life. The students describe opportunities they were provided to express their needs and to lead in their own way. The students highlighted the social aspect, often by focusing on the need for belongingness to their peers.

Discussion
Students’ functioning is associated with both the support they receive for their needs, and the experiences of need-suppression by peers and teachers. Thus, both the bright and dark sides of students’ motivation play a role in their academic and social life. The presentation will demonstrate how a theory can be implemented and transformed into a "living theory" that affects students and teachers alike.

Authors

• Haya P. Kaplan, Kaye Academic College of Education

• Nir Madjar, Bar-Ilan University