The Research Supporting Our Engagement-Based Practice

November 16, 2016

(Photo credit: M2Film via the LEGO Foundation)

This November, Executive Director Jane Dimyan-Ehrenfeld spoke with Robyn Sperling, Director of Research and Evaluation for Inspired Teaching. Robyn described the research department’s work to support our programs and show the theory behind our practice, including offering a preview of our upcoming white paper on the need for engagement-based education.

Jane: What role does research play in the work of Inspired Teaching?

Robyn: Over the past few years our focus has been on program quality and evaluation, which we use to make our programs as strong as possible. Now we are placing an explicit focus on outward-facing research to help move our work forward and change the public dialogue about teaching and learning. We will be putting out a series of white papers explaining the theory behind our practice. Our first white paper highlights the need to adopt engagement-based, rather than compliance-based, education in all of our nation’s schools. The next white paper will focus on how we teach teachers to be engagement-based: through transformative professional development, rooted in Inspired Teaching’s 5-step process.

What have we learned so far?

While experts agree that for learning to take place, students need to be truly engaged, there are many definitions of what student engagement looks, sounds, and feels like. Researchers often distinguish between three different kinds of engagement. “Behavioral engagement” is essentially whether or not a student is participating. “Emotional engagement” measures how much they actually like or value the activity. And “cognitive engagement” tells us how invested they are in the assignment. Inspired Teaching uses all of these concepts, and adds a physical or kinesthetic component as well, thus defining student engagement as ‘physical, emotional, and intellectual involvement in learning.’

Twenty-first century skills — which enable individuals to independently analyze and apply information, not merely parrot it back at the right time — are exactly the types of skills that engagement-based education values and builds in students. This is why Center for Inspired Teaching believes all schools should be engagement-based: founded on the idea that young people are innately curious, that they want to learn, and that they are born with the ability to grapple with complex problems and invent solutions.

Our research shows that schools should embrace the belief that young people can come up with ideas that can actually transform communities. This can only be done if our teachers and schools view students not as empty vessels or empty heads to fill, but as the owners of powerful minds who need to learn how to use those minds well.

You mentioned compliance-based education – can you tell us more about it?

In recent years, policymakers have attempted to solve educational challenges by trying to make American students more “competitive” on international standardized assessments. These leaders have implemented rigorous curricula, standardized tests, and various punitive measures for schools and districts not complying with state and national mandates. This environment set the stage for the proliferation of schools characterized by a highly regulated and compliance-based environment. While some compliance-based schools have been touted by these same policymakers for their test scores, policies in these schools are often controlling, authoritarian, and coercive, stifling the very creativity and intellectual independence Inspired Teaching believes students need to thrive. The strict discipline in these schools works to ensure that student compliance is the most highly valued skill of all.

What the schools and the policymakers who support these practices fail to recognize, however, is that the absence of misbehavior does not necessarily indicate the presence of learning.

What’s next for research at Inspired Teaching?

Stay tuned for our series of white papers! Meanwhile, our core work will continue, and we will continue to conduct research and evaluation to strengthen all of our programs. New this school year is our research through the Mathematics and Science Partnership grant, which focuses on STEM teachers and their students. We are doing a quasi-experimental study looking at teachers’ instruction, teachers’ STEM content knowledge, and students’ STEM content knowledge. We will compare teachers participating in one of our programs to a control group, to see how Inspired Teaching’s professional development affected STEM instruction and content knowledge. We are looking forward to showing our impact in a strong, empirical way.

Micaiah Anderson

Community Outreach Specialist

As a Community Outreach Specialist, Micaiah is responsible for program promotion and outreach support for Inspired Teaching events and workshops. Micaiah has a passion for collaborating with community members to build-power and connect. She is an educator with a heart for youth and has experience supporting students fight injustices within their schools and communities. She has a BA in Political Science from, the real HU, Hampton University & anticipates graduating in May 2024 with a Masters of Arts degree in Educational Policy Transformation from Georgetown University.

AUTONOMY

"I want to have a say in what happens to me."

Autonomy is the need for independence; the ability to make choices, to create, to explore, and to express oneself freely; to have sufficient space, to move around, and to feel unrestricted with opportunities to exercise free will.

Brady Maiden

Outreach Coordinator

As the Outreach Coordinator, Brady helps maintain Inspired Teaching’s social media presence and supports the organization’s mission to connect with DC community leaders, educators, and parents. Brady has her Master’s in Public Policy from George Mason University and her BS in Political Science from Northern Arizona University. She is passionate about community, equity, and coalition building recognizing that learning and growing with the community at large is how we continue to be impactful.

What brings you joy in life?

I find joy in spending time with my friends and family and meeting new people. I like going to concerts and festivals, and finding new books to read.

The Learner’s Cycle, Wonder-Experiment-Learn, and the Teacher’s Cycle, Observe-Plan-Instigate, comprise Inspired Teaching’s approach to engaging students in inquiry-based learning.

When they are engaged in the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, students are immersed in learning. They take the lead in designing authentic learning experiences around their own interests and their school’s standards of learning. Each discovery leads to a new question which in turn leads to more wondering and more learning. In the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, Learn is not a destination or an endpoint; it is a deeper understanding, leading to a deeper wondering and new possibilities that create new entry points to further exploration. The cycle continues because what students have learned generates more wonderings that require more experiments that foster more learning – and on and on.

The Observe-Plan-Instigate Cycle is the work of an Inspired Teacher. While a student is expected to follow the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, the teacher joins them on the learning journey while following their own cycle of Observe-Plan-Instigate. This cycle ultimately serves to ensure an inquiry-based atmosphere is at play in the classroom.

Jaqueta Abbey

Teaching and Learning Specialist

Jaqueta is the Teaching and Learning Specialist for Inspired Teaching. In addition to her current role with Inspired Teaching, Jaqueta is a first-grade teaching assistant. Her background features a variety of traditional and non-traditional experiences in the field of education, including working as an adjunct professor, teaching summer reading programs to children and adults, and tutoring children in the foster care system. Jaqueta earned a B.A. in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an M.A. in Interactive Media from Elon University.

What brings you joy in life?

Creative self-expression! In addition to my passion for storytelling, I love dancing of all kinds. I've studied belly dance, bachata, and Brazilian Zouk among other styles. I also enjoy glass fusing, crocheting, photography, and cross stitching. These art forms allow me to express myself and build connections with other people at the same time. I think life would be a lot less vibrant without artists and storytellers!

Michelle Welk

Communication & Marketing Specialist

As Communications and Marketing Specialist, Michelle is responsible for finding and creating new ways to highlight Inspired Teaching and promote its programs in order to expand and deepen the organization's impact. Michelle has worked in communications in an array of settings, from creative agencies to state politics to national nonprofits. She has a BA in Journalism from Temple University in Philadelphia and is passionate about education, access, and equity.

What brings you joy in life?

My son, the beach, making a persuasive argument and good food!

Max Peterson

Real World History Assistant Teacher

Max received his Bachelor’s degree in History and African American Studies from Boston University in May 2016. He has worked in museum curation at the Museum of the White Mountains in New Hampshire and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Max has worked with young people of varying ages from young children to young adults transitioning to college.

Feedback and Accountability

We grow through feedback and an understanding that the quality of our work is a reflection of what we are learning, but the shift to remote learning this spring disrupted a lot of the tools teachers were used to using to evaluate student growth. How might we do things differently this fall? Participants in this workshop will explore ways to bring meaningful assessment into the virtual and/or socially-distanced classroom and approaches to student feedback that strengthen motivation, and build relationships and achievement.