Promoting School Connectedness: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health

Abstract

Increasing evidence shows that when adolescents feel cared for by people at their school and feel like a part of their school, they are less likely to use substances, engage in violence, or initiate sexual activity at an early age. However, specific strategies to increase students' connectedness to school have not been studied. This study examined the association between school connectedness and the school environment to identify ways to increase students' connectedness to school. Data from the in-school and school administrator surveys of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (75,515 students in 127 schools) and hierarchical linear models were used to estimate the association between school characteristics and the average level of school connectedness in each school. Positive classroom management climates, participation in extracurricular activities, tolerant disciplinary policies, and small school size were associated positively with higher school connectedness.

Experiences of School Belonging for Young Children With Refugee Backgrounds

“…This finding is important due to previous research highlighting that elements of school belonging may be increased where participation in extra--curricular activities is higher (McNeely, Nonnemaker, & Blum, 2002), As noted above, our findings may reflect students' newly arrived status, however it is worth noting that increasing the ability of refugee students and their families to participate in such activities may play an important role in increase school belonging. We would also suggest that expanding the school's extra--curricular activities to include events important to refugee students and their families would offer a very useful pathway for schools to assist students to develop a strong sense of school belonging.…”

Ortaokul Öğrencilerinin Okula Bağlanmalarının İncelenmesi

“…Bu sonuç okula bağlanma düzeyinde cinsiyete göre farklılık olmadığını bulan başka araştırmalarla benzerlik göstermektedir (Anderman ve Anderman, 1999;Somers ve Gizzi, 2001ve Duy ve Yıldız, 2014. Kızların okula bağlanma düzeylerini erkeklere göre daha yüksek bulan (Cheung ve Hui, 2003;Adelabu, 2007;Arastaman, 2009;Alaca, 2011;Mengi, 2011;Sarı, 2012;Özdemir ve Kalaycı, 2013ve Bellici, 2015 çalışmalar olduğu gibi erkeklerin kızlardan daha yüksek düzeyde okul bağlılığı gösterdiğini gösteren (McNeely, Nonnemaker ve Blum, 2002) araştırmalar da bulunmaktadır. Araştırma sonuçlarının farklılaşması yapılan çalışmaların geniş yaş aralıkları ile ilkokul, ortaokul ve lise düzeyinde gerçekleştirilmiş olması ile açıklanabilir (Can, 2008).…”

A photovoice study of school belongingness among high school students in Norway

“…12] and community factors, few studies have examined wider economic, political and social factors [13]. For example, Finnmark covers the largest land area (48,618 km 2 ) of all counties in Norway, but has only 10 high schools given low population density.…”