The impact of strengths-based development on student engagement

Abstract

This study included over 1600 students and 90 teachers from three traditional high schools, one traditional middle school and two alternative educational settings within a Midwestern school district with a total enrollment of roughly 20,000 students. Nearly half of the teachers in the study received a strengths-based intervention, a Gallup Seminar called Strengths Spotlight?, focused on giving teachers the resources necessary to help students understand, apply and grow in their areas of greatest potential, their strengths. Student and teacher strengths were determined by the Clifton StrengthsFinder?, an online assessment based on over 30 years of research on what makes people successful.^Pre and post engagement surveys were administered to both teachers and students and responses were collected to analyze the impact of the strengths-based intervention.^Students in the two alternative educational settings, who had the opportunity to learn about their own strengths and the strengths of others, had more positive perceptions about the school environment. Overall satisfaction, overall engagement, feeling safe, feeling respected, feeling that someone encouraged their development, and feeling like their opinions counted are just a few of the survey items that had meaningful growth from time one to time two within the two alternative educational groups that received strengths-based development. The engagement post survey responses of teachers in this study were compared to educational services employees within the employee engagement database of a major consulting organization.Teacher engagement is discussed as the precursor to student engagement.^This study shows that sharing strengths among classmates may contribute to the overall feeling of being engaged. The students and teachers in these groups were paying attention to the uniqueness of each person and the positive potential that was within each individual. A focus on the positive aspects of these students was being celebrated and it contributed to their feeling more engaged at school