It's a teacher's perennial aim to motivate students to learn, but as students get older, this becomes more of a challenge. Though many factors influence a young person's interest and level of engagement, teachers and parents can boost student motivation.
By Request … Increasing Student Engagement and Motivation: From Time-on-Task to Homework offers practical strategies for promoting student engagement in learning. This booklet, the latest in the By Request series published by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, describes techniques that teachers, administrators, and parents can incorporate at the classroom, school, and district levels, and in students' homes.
The older students get the less likely they are to take risks and engage fully in activities at which they are not sure they will succeed, write authors Cori Brewster and Jennifer Fager. Students' attitudes about their capabilities and their interpretation of success and failure affect their willingness to engage themselves in learning. By recognizing that a child's healthy self-esteem is the foundation for learning (and the basis from which motivation and engagement rise), teachers and parents can have a powerful influence on students' level of engagement in learning.
Teachers can reinforce students' self-confidence and motivation by:
Parents can also help their children be successful by:
"As schools focus on helping all students achieve high standards," write the authors, "reaching out to disengaged and discouraged learners becomes increasingly important."
To receive a free copy of this By Request booklet, please see the Document Order Form. By Request … Increasing Student Engagement and Motivation: From Time-on-Task is also online at http://www.nwrel.org/request/oct00/index.html.
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Date of Last Update: 9/28/01 
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