Engaging Learning Practices

Supporting long-term success for students includes finding ways to engage them, support them, and nurture their independence in the classroom. On this page, you'll find strategies, mindsets, and best practices for effectively and equitably supporting all students.

Engaging Learning Practices refer to the beliefs, expectations, and actions that encourage and equitably support all individuals in their life-long learning journey.

What can I expect in a school with engaging learning practices?

Use of engaging learning practices is associated with a variety of outcomes, including:

Increased academic performance (Szumski & Karwowski, 2019; Timperley & Phillips, 2003)
Decrease in challenging classroom behaviors (Epstein et al., 2008)
Decreased risk of dropping out (Iachini et al., 2013)
Inclusion of students with different learning styles and abilities (Meyer and Rose, 2006)

Essential Elements

Belief in the Potential of All

Members of the school community believe in the potential of all students.

Adults in the school setting communicate their beliefs and mindsets to students through their words and actions. In order to commit to equity and inclusion in schools, all adults must be aware of their biases, and carefully communicate that all students and families have the potential to succeed.

Adults:

Are aware of biases
Believe that all students can learn
Communicate that belief with students

Guiding Questions

How is the belief that all students can learn communicated to the students?
How do staff demonstrate unconditional positive regard for their students?
How do staff engage in self-reflection that potentially surfaces biases that might impact students' belief in themselves?
How do teachers speak to their students?
How do teachers listen to their students?
How do staff manage challenging behavior?
How do staff consider and talk about families as partners in their students' education?

Mindsets

Skills & Practices

Staff use a strengths-based approach to discussing and interacting with students.
Staff regularly examine their own biases about student potential.
Staff help all students develop emotional and behavioral skills in order to be successful in the classroom.
When staff observe challenging behavior, they consider which skills the student may need to develop and then teach those skills.
When staff observe challenging behavior, they consider the function of the behavior and the underlying needs.
Staff assume positive intent from families.
Staff communicate positive beliefs about student capacity with families.

Resources

High Expectations, Strong Support

Schools hold high expectations for youth, and provide supports to meet them.

Expectations refer to the standards for behavior and academic performance that students are expected to meet. High expectations for learning, behavior, and social skills are explicit, developmentally appropriate, and culturally responsive. When students struggle to meet expectations, scaffolds should be introduced and utilized until they can be removed, allowing the student to be independent and have a sense of self-efficacy.

Guiding Questions

How are all students held to explicit, high expectations, behaviorally, socially, and academically?
How does your school ensure learning and behavior expectations are developmentally appropriate?
How does your school ensure learning and behavior expectations are culturally responsive?
How are learning objectives selected and communicated in the classroom?
In what ways are behavioral expectations established, communicated, taught, and reinforced?
When students don’t meet expectations, how are they encouraged and supported?
In what ways is scaffolding adjusted as students gain more skills and move toward independence? Do accommodations empower students to access more content?
How are adults held to high expectations in their actions?
How do staff engage families as partners in their students' education?

Mindsets

Staff are willing to examine their biases and work to address them.
Staff understand that high expectations require strong support to ensure students meet those expectations.
Staff have high expectations for behavior and professionalism for themselves and their colleagues.
Staff believe that collaborating with families is critical to supporting students.
Staff expect that students will learn and achieve at different rates and with different levels of support.

Skills & Practices

Staff hold high academic, behavioral, social, etc. expectations for all students.
Staff create individualized expectations and goals that are developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive.
Staff encourage students to use a growth mindset for skills they haven’t acquired “yet.”
Staff regularly provide challenging content for students.
Staff allow students to showcase their skills in different ways.
Teachers are aware of, and able to access, different types of support from the school community.
Staff provide scaffolding for students not yet able to meet expectations.
Staff fade scaffolding as students increase their skills and are able to more independently meet the demands.
Staff hold each other accountable for their behavior and interactions with students.
Staff include families in decision-making processes.
When students struggle, staff consider what supports may be provided to the family as well as the individual student.

Resources

Trauma Responsive School Culture

School cultures are trauma responsive.

According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) a trauma-informed school, adheres to the “4 Rs”:

Realizing the widespread impact of trauma and pathways to recovery
Recognizing traumas signs and symptoms
Responding by integrating knowledge about trauma into all facets of the system
Resisting re-traumatization of trauma-impacted individuals by decreasing the occurrence of unnecessary triggers (i.e., trauma and loss reminders) and by implementing trauma-informed policies, procedures, and practices.

Trauma responsive schools:

Provide proactive and clear communication strategies and planning
Create an underlying culture of respect and support
Provide tools to cope with extreme situations
Provide adequate supervision during unstructured times (recess, lunch, pick up, drop off, etc.)
Utilize restorative discipline practices
Provide training for adults in de-escalation practices

Guiding Questions

How is the culture of the school trauma-responsive?
How do staff self-regulate?
How are staff taught to understand the impacts of trauma including how trauma affects student behavior in school?
How are staff taught to recognize the signs and symptoms of trauma in students?
How do teachers create structured and predictable environments to minimize the impacts of trauma?
How do adults interact with students?
How do teachers use reminders, redirections, and reinforcements to support student behavior?
What proactive classroom management strategies do teachers use?
How does the teacher use and teach self-reflection, co-regulation, perspective-taking, problem-solving and empathy?

Mindsets

Staff know that trauma has an impact on learning.
Staff recognize the signs of trauma.
Staff believe that it is part of their role to respond to trauma.
Staff are aware of cultural trauma.
Staff understand how re-traumatization can negatively impact students who've experienced trauma.
Staff know that resilience is possible for everyone.
Staff know that resilience can be cultivated and taught.
Staff know that what they do matters.

Skills & Practices

Staff will prioritize safety, connection, and belonging in all spaces and interactions with students.
Teachers tune into their own needs, feelings and states to best support students.
Teachers are aware of the circumstances under which student(s) struggle and plan ahead.
Staff promote positive relationships within the classroom.
Staff strive to notice, appreciate and connect with all students.
Staff self-regulate so that they may interact with youth in warm, consistent, and predictable ways.
Staff practice and exhibit self-management skills when interacting with unwanted student behavior.
Staff prioritize structure and predictability through developing intentional classroom environments, which include routines, rituals, roles & responsibilities, rhythm, and order.
Staff learn about trauma and how it can affect people and groups.
Staff are trained to recognize the signs of trauma.
When staff recognize signs of trauma, they can connect students with additional supports.
Schools have emergency and crisis response procedures in place to address when potential traumatic events occur.

Resources

Stress, Trauma, and the Brain: Insights for Educators (Dr. Bruce Perry)
Building Relationships as a Foundation of Trauma-Informed Practices in Schools (National Child Traumatic Stress Network)
Strategies for De-escalating Student Behavior in the Classroom (Center on PBIS)
Resilience in Schools and Educators (Center for Resilience and Well-Being - University of Colorado at Boulder)

Differentiation for Learner Variability

Staff differentiate instruction utilizing high leverage practices within the Universal Design for Learning framework.

Differentiation refers to the practice of tailoring instruction to meet the individual needs of each student. High leverage practices are those fundamental classroom practices that are used regularly and help all students learn important content. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn.

Learner variability may include considerations of students:

Age
Neurological development
Culture
Neurodivergence
Language
Learning styles
Strengths
Challenges
Those who have experienced trauma
Highly mobile youth (experiencing homelessness, foster care, migrant, etc.)
Those with disabilities

Guiding Questions

How do staff include components of Universal Design for Learning?
Do teachers know their learning objectives associated with each lesson and activity? Can they explicitly identify how each component of the lesson works toward an objective?
How do teachers adjust teaching practices to meet individual student learning needs?
In what ways do teachers demonstrate multiple means of representation?
How do teachers use multiple means of engagement?
How do teachers motivate all students to learn?
How are students provided multiple means of action & expression?
How do teachers break large concepts or expectations into smaller, discrete tasks?
What high leverage practices are regularly used in classrooms?
How do teachers ensure representation of diverse groups are included in lessons?
How are students with IEPs, 504s, ALPs, or other formal service plans supported while also ensuring these students are integrated as much as possible in the general education settings (i.e., least restrictive environment)?

Mindsets

Skills & Practices

Staff plan for lessons in activities with the end in mind, so that every activity is purposeful and drives toward the learning objectives.
Teachers customize learning for each student's strengths, skills, needs, and interests (i.e., personalized learning).
Teachers allow for student choice in the classroom, including at various times, allowing students to choose what and how they want to learn.
Teachers represent concepts in multiple ways.
Teachers use multiple strategies to motivate students to engage in their learning.
Teachers incorporate diverse perspectives, cultures, and ways of thinking into their lessons to ensure students see themselves in the material.
Staff allow students to demonstrate what they’ve learned in multiple ways (Action and expression).
The school has a strong system of support where various staff are able to support special education services while ensuring that students remain in the least restrictive environment possible.
Staff use a variety of high leverage instructional practices in the classroom.