An exploratory study of the academic engagement and beliefs of Latino male high school students

Abstract

This study provides insights to the school experiences of Latino male students through an exploration of how they describe their beliefs about education and how they engage in school for academic success. Data is drawn from interviews and surveys conducted with Latino males that participated in New York University’s Black and Latino Male School Intervention Study (BLMSIS) between 2006 and 2011. The findings revealed a dynamic interplay among how the students ‘do school’ (behavioral engagement), their intellectual involvement (cognitive engagement), and their strong beliefs in the education for social mobility shaped schooling for them. This focus on the experiences of young Latino males seeks to assist researchers, policymakers, and practitioners alike design and implement programs and policies to promote their educational progress and success.

Keywords:

• Latino males
• single-sex schooling
• academic engagement
• educational beliefs

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Cognitive Engagement Items: I get bored easily with my school work-reversed; I feel good when I learn something new, even if it is hard; I listen carefully when other talk about topics I’m interested in; I like new challenges; When I am working on something I care about, nothing can distract me; When I have a clear goal, I can really focus; I’m a curious person; When my school work is too difficult, I give up-reversed; When I encounter a new problem, I first think about the strategies that I’ve used to solve similar problems in the past; I like it when teachers help me think about things that I’ve never thought of before.

2. Educational Beliefs Items: Education is the key to success in the future; If everyone in America gets a good education, we can end poverty; Achievement and effort in school lead to job success later on; The way for poor people to become middle class is for them to get a good education; School success is not necessarily a clear path to a better life-reversed; Getting a good education is a practical road to success for a person like me; Young people like me have a chance of making it if we do well in school; Education really pays off in the future for a young person like me.

3. Behavioral Engagement Scale Items: I finished the schoolwork assigned to me; I paid attention in class; I tried to do my best in school; I followed the rules at school; If I didn’t understand something in class, I asked questions; I disrupted the class-reversed; I turned in my homework; I did not bring a pencil/pen or paper to class-reversed; I forgot to take home books needed to complete an assignment-reversed; I was late to class-reversed; I skipped or cut classes-reversed.