Manheim Township High School

When it comes to motivating people to learn, disadvantaged urban adolescents are usually perceived as a hard sell. Yet, in a recent MetLife survey, 89 percent of the low-income students claimed "I really want to learn." What is it about the school environment--pedagogy, curriculum, climate, organization --that encourages or discourages engagement in school activities? How do peers, family, and community affect adolescents' attitudes toward learning? "Engaging Schools reviews current research on what shapes adolescents' school engagement and motivation to learn--including new findings on students' sense of belonging--and looks at ways these can be used to reform urban high schools. This book discusses what changes hold the greatest promise for increasing students' motivation to learn in these schools. It looks at various approaches to reform through different methods of instruction and assessment, adjustments in school size, vocational teaching, and other key areas. Also included are examples of innovative schools, classrooms, and out-of-school programs that have proved successful in getting high school kids excited about learning.

While high school drop-out rates have steadily declined among white and African American students over the last twenty years, a constant 35 percent of Latino students continue to quit school before graduation. Troubled by both the magnitude and the constancy of the Latino drop-out rate, Harriett Romo and Toni Falbo conducted a four-year study of at-risk Latino students to determine how some defy the odds and stay in school to earn high school diplomas. This book reveals in full detail what they found. Romo and Falbo followed the school progress of 100 at-risk students in Austin, Texas, beginning in 1989 when the students were fifteen years old. Drawing on extensive interviews with the students and their parents, school records, and fieldwork in the students' schools and communities, the authors identify both the obstacles that cause many students to drop out and the successful strategies that other students and their parents pursue to ensure high school graduation. Detailed case studies allow students and parents to describe their experiences with the public schools in their own words. After presenting their findings, Romo and Falbo conclude with seven provocative and far-reaching recommendations for changes in the public schools to boost the graduation rate of at-risk Latino students. Sure to provoke lively interest and debate among all groups with a stake in schools, this book will be required reading for school administrators, teachers, parents, legislators, and community leaders in all regions with Latino student populations.