Student Motivation & Engagement

Education news, analysis, and opinion about efforts to get students involved and active in learning and classroom activities
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Student Well-Being Opinion There Is a Better Way for Students to Ask for Feedback
Adam Grant draws from a personal example to demonstrate how anyone can get more useful input.
Adam Grant, February 14, 2024
1 min read
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Teaching Opinion Do I Really Have to Go to Summer School? How to Get Students to Change Their Minds
Students often view summer school as a punishment. Schools can take steps to shift that perception.
Larry Ferlazzo, February 14, 2024
9 min read
Kate Maxlow, director of curriculum, instruction, and assessment at Hampton City Schools, who helped give students a voice in curriculum redesign, works in her office on January 12, 2024.
Kate Maxlow is the director of curriculum, instruction, and assessment in Virginia's Hampton City school district. She worked with students to give them a voice in shaping curriculum.
Sam Mallon/Education Week
Curriculum Q&A Why One District Hired Its Students to Review Curricula
Virginia's Hampton City school district pays a cadre of student interns to give feedback on curriculum.
Caitlynn Peetz, February 5, 2024
3 min read
Kate Maxlow works with Ava Gomez, 8, left and Khalid Baldwin, 8, right, on a “breakout room” activity in Jade Austin’s second grade classroom at Samuel P. Langley Elementary School in Hampton, Va., on January 12, 2024.
Kate Maxlow, director of curriculum, instruction, and assessment at Hampton City Schools, works with Ava Gomez, 8, left and Khalid Baldwin, 8, right, on a “breakout room” activity in a 2nd grade classroom at Samuel P. Langley Elementary School in Hampton, Va.
Sam Mallon/Education Week
Student Achievement Leader To Learn From An Unorthodox Plan to Pay Students to Write Curriculum Is Raising Achievement
For Kate Maxlow, the director of curriculum in Hampton City, Va., engaging students and improving academic achievement go hand in hand.
Caitlynn Peetz, February 5, 2024
9 min read
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Teaching Should Students Get Rewards for Doing Their Work? What Teachers (and a Researcher) Think
The debate about giving rewards vs. fostering intrinsic motivation continues.
Madeline Will, January 31, 2024
5 min read
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Teaching Opinion Angela Duckworth on What the Research Says About Active Learning
What students think works best for their learning isn't necessarily what does.
Angela Duckworth, January 31, 2024
2 min read
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Teaching Opinion School Is Relevant. How to Help Students See That
Students often say they don't know why they have to learn something. Try these strategies to help them understand and care.
Larry Ferlazzo, January 26, 2024
9 min read
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Quiz Yourself: How Much Do You Know About Productive Struggle?
Answer 6 questions about productive struggle.
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School & District Management How These Principals Nip Apathy in the Bud After Winter Break and Long Weekends
Cellphone bans, Instagram posts and shout-outs are small fixes to the growing problem of student apathy.
Olina Banerji, January 19, 2024
6 min read
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Student Well-Being Opinion Students Like Easy Work. Here's How to Break That
Don’t assume students avoid effort because they’re lazy. They may be confusing effort with failure to make progress.
Angela Duckworth, January 17, 2024
1 min read
Second grade teacher Jacqueline Chaney works with students during a small groups reading activity at New Town Elementary School in Owings Mills, Md., on Oct. 25, 2023.
Jacqueline Chaney works with her 2nd grade students during a small-group reading activity at New Town Elementary School in Owings Mills, Md., on Oct. 25, 2023.
Jaclyn Borowski/Education Week
Reading & Literacy Q&A How This Teacher Sparks a Love of Reading for Pleasure
A 2nd grade teacher shares her tips for hooking students on reading for pleasure.
Elizabeth Heubeck, January 15, 2024
5 min read
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Reading & Literacy How to Build Students' Reading Stamina
Building stamina—the attention span and endurance to read texts for sustained periods—is critical to support reading comprehension.
Stephen Sawchuk, January 15, 2024
9 min read
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Mathematics Students See Value in Math Class. But Many Also Find It Boring
A new survey of nearly 90,000 high school students demonstrates American teenagers’ deep ambivalence about how math is taught in schools.
Sarah Schwartz, January 8, 2024
5 min read