Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this single case study was to discover school-level approaches to the engagement of high school students within the behavioral, emotional, and cognitive domains of student engagement. School leadership narratives provided insight to address the central research question and explore factors influencing student engagement within the person-environment context of low-socioeconomic and ethnic minority status on high school campuses. Methodology. A single case study research methodology was used to describe school leadership perspectives and practices related to student engagement in schools serving low-socioeconomic and ethnic minority status students. Participants included 9 principals from comprehensive high schools within a unified high school district. Findings. This research study found that school-level practices influenced teacher- and classroom-level action as well as student-level action related to behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement within high school environments. The study revealed that student needs necessitated the extension of school-level action from the school community to the external community. Before cognitive student engagement occurred, school-level action focused on the emotional and behavioral engagement of students. The themes were as follows: Emotional engagement: (a) build relationships, (b) demonstrate care, (c) school as community, (d) parent and community outreach, (e) 8th-grade transition, (f) importance of the 9th grade; Behavioral engagement: (a) on-campus programs, (b) extracurricular and cocurricular activities, (c) behavioral interventions and support; Cognitive engagement: (a) classroom-level, (b) student learning, (c) positive pedagogy, (d) curricular standards, (e) teacher-level challenge and opportunity for growth; and School-level practices to better serve status risk students: (a) importance of school cultures, (b) importance of outside agencies, (c) reaching disengaged students. Conclusions. School leader practices related to optimizing school capacity for engaging students behaviorally, emotionally, and cognitively. Increased understanding of school-level actions will help guide informed and strategic decisions regarding school- and districtwide initiatives that promote positive and high-quality interpersonal relationships. Recommendations. There is a need to test the effectiveness of a comprehensive school system that engages students behaviorally, emotionally, and cognitively, particularly in schools serving significant populations of low-socioeconomic and ethnic minority students. In addition, there is a need to further explore partnerships at the community level to support schools with projected increases in status-risk students.