August 26, 2025
by Sarah Frazelle, Senior Researcher, American Institutes for Research (AIR) (cross-posted from AIR)
Student engagement is one of the most powerful predictors of academic success. When students are engaged, they show up, think critically, and feel connected to their learning environment. But engagement isn’t just about paying attention in class—it’s a multidimensional concept that includes how students behave, think, and feel.
Understanding and supporting behavioral, cognitive, and emotional engagement can help educators create learning environments where students are invested in their future. This blog post describes each type of engagement, behaviors educators can look for, ways for educators to support the type of engagement, and real-world examples.
Behavioral Engagement: Showing Up and Participating
What it is:
Behavioral engagement refers to students’ actions in the classroom—attending school, participating in discussions, and completing assignments. It is the easiest type of engagement to track with regularly available data in student success systems.
Why it matters:
Students who are behaviorally engaged are more likely to stay on track academically, build positive habits for long term success, and develop essential relationship and self-regulation skills. Regular attendance and active participation help students build confidence, collaborate with peers, and feel like they belong in school.
What to look for:
- Consistent attendance and punctuality
- Active participation in class
- Timely completion of assignments
How to support it:
- Establish clear expectations and routines
- Use interactive teaching methods like group work and hands-on activities
- Reinforce positive behaviors with praise and recognition
Real world success:
Student success systems take many forms in schools. Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a well-known, proactive, schoolwide framework designed to promote behavioral engagement by clearly teaching and reinforcing positive behaviors. Through consistent expectations, data-informed decisionmaking, and tiered supports, PBIS helps create structured, inclusive environments where students are actively involved in their learning. By focusing on what students should do—rather than just what they shouldn’t—PBIS fosters participation, reduces disruptions, and strengthens students’ connection to school.
In a systematic literature review, the Center on PBIS analyzed 66 peer-reviewed publications (spanning from 1998 to 2023) to evaluate the core principals of PBIS. The review identified a wide range of positive outcomes associated with PBIS implementation ranging from reductions in the use of exclusionary discipline to improvements in student academic outcomes and attendance to overall improvements of school climate, safety, and organizational health.
Cognitive Engagement: Thinking Deeply and Taking Ownership
What it is:
Cognitive engagement is about how students think and learn. It includes curiosity, critical thinking, and self-regulation.
Why it matters:
Cognitively engaged students go beyond surface-level learning. They ask questions, set goals, and reflect on their progress. Cognitive engagement prepares them to analyze, evaluate, and apply knowledge in real-world situations, which is essential for navigating a rapidly changing world and continuously acquiring new skills. Cognitive engagement also supports self-directed learning, which helps prepare students to be independent learners in college, careers, and beyond.
What to look for:
- Use of deep learning strategies
- Goal setting and self-monitoring
- Critical thinking and problem-solving
How to support it:
- Design a challenging and relevant curriculum
- Provide opportunities for inquiry and exploration
- Encourage metacognition, an awareness and understanding of one’s own thought process, through journaling and self-assessment
Real world success:
Project-based learning allows students the autonomy to choose projects that resonate with their passion and curiosity, which in turn encourages greater levels of cognitive engagement. Project-based learning fosters 21st century skills, which include critical thinking, creativity, and initiative in addition to traditional academic knowledge. Young adults in the U.S. who learned skills like solving real problems and understanding global issues in their last year of school are more likely to say they do better at work.
Dayton Regional STEM School in Ohio prepares students for careers in aerospace, manufacturing, and healthcare through a project-based learning model that emphasizes real-world problem-solving and student-driven inquiry. The school partners with local industries to offer job-shadowing and internships, resulting in 70% of graduates pursuing STEM majors—well above the national average. It achieved a 100% graduation rate from 2016 to 2020 and ranked in the top 4% of Ohio high schools based on state test scores.
Emotional Engagement: Feeling Connected and Valued
What it is:
Emotional engagement reflects how students feel about school, their teachers, and their peers. It includes a sense of belonging, motivation, and emotional safety.
Why it matters:
When students feel emotionally connected, they are more likely to participate, take academic risks, and persist through challenges. Positive peer and teacher interactions encourage students to engage in group work, discussions, and cooperative problem-solving—key components of active learning. Emotional engagement also supports mental health and resilience.
What to look for:
- A strong sense of belonging
- Positive relationships with peers and teachers
- Enthusiasm and motivation for learning
How to support it:
- Build a supportive classroom environment
- Implement programs focused on relationship and self-regulation skills
- Establish a system to monitor whether each student has a meaningful connection with at least one adult in the school and is actively engaged in an extracurricular activity beyond academics
Real world success:
Southeast Lauderdale High School in Mississippi has made emotional engagement a cornerstone of its student success strategy. As part of its work to implement student success systems with the support of GRAD Partnership technical assistance, the school prioritized fostering a sense of belonging and connection, ensuring every student could find a meaningful reason to come to school. This included reviving traditional extracurriculars like color guard, launching new ones such as e-sports, and creating personalized roles like student videographers. Career and technical education programs also played a key role in helping students discover their “why,” with one student sharing that welding was the reason they stayed enrolled.
These emotionally grounded strategies contributed to a significant rise in student achievement, culminating in the school earning an “A” rating on the Mississippi State Report Card. To celebrate and deepen student-staff relationships, the school hosted an “A-Day Celebration” co-designed with students—an event that reinforced the school’s commitment to connection, joy, and community as drivers of student success.
Bringing it all Together
Behavioral, cognitive, and emotional engagement are deeply interconnected. A student who feels emotionally safe is more likely to participate behaviorally and think critically. Likewise, a student who is cognitively engaged may be more motivated to attend school and connect with peers.
Educators can support holistic engagement by assessing all three dimensions and adapting their strategies accordingly. Whether through data-informed interventions such as PBIS, project-based learning, or intentional planning for student connection, there are powerful tools to help every student thrive.