The professional student program for educational resilience: Enhancing momentary engagement in classwork

Abstract

The Professional Student Program for Educational Resilience (PROSPER) was designed to increase students’ ability to stay momentarily engaged in classwork, thus promoting educational resilience. Participants (N = 277, 51% male, 74% Irish) from two low-income schools in Dublin, Ireland (School A n = 158; School B n = 119), were assessed using the intervention’s theory of change: (1) change in knowledge of how to stay engaged in classwork, (2) subsequent change in momentary engagement in classwork, and (3) subsequent longer-term change in dispositions for engagement (i.e., tendency to enjoy learning). Qualitative results demonstrated that PROSPER facilitated students’ knowledge, momentary engagement, and teachers’ involvement with students. Quantitative analyses uncovered changes in knowledge and momentary engagement for both the higher and lower ability tracks in School A. The results give refined information on how this universal-school based program increased students’ momentary engagement and supported their educational resilience.

Keywords:

• Intervention
• momentary engagement
• motivation
• resilience
• student engagement

Acknowledgments

We would also like to acknowledge Cheryl Torsney of Middle Tennessee State University for her editorial assistance. This manuscript is a co-first authored paper with each author contributing equally to its completion.

Notes

1 The equivalent of a secondary school in the United States would be the combination of a middle (7^th and 8^th grade) and high school (9^th–12^th grade).

Additional information

Funding

The research in this manuscript was funded by the Irish Research Council’s award Research for Policy and Society made to Jennifer E. Symonds (Project ID RfPS/2016/46).