Chapter 12: Pathways For All: Teens, Tech, and Learning

Allison and Carissa are describing what it is like to be a learner within two different settings, a public, urban high school and an urban community-based organization. If we accept Shernoff ’s (2013) definition of engagement as “the heightened, simultaneous experience of concentration, interest, and enjoyment in the task at hand” (p. 12), then these young women certainly are engaged learners. Yet the settings to which they refer serve low-income, racially and ethnically diverse youth for whom disparities in educational opportunities and outcomes are typically persistent and seemingly intractable (Rowan, Hall, & Haycock, 2010). Engagement has been identified as one of the most significant predictors of learning and achievement among youth (Finn & Zimmer, 2012; Skinner & Pitzer, 2012). Kelly and Price (2014) found that engagement levels decline by almost 10% as youth transition to high school settings, and according to Klem and Connell (2004), once in high school, 40–60% of students are chronically disengaged.