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Carla Massie Home Learn More Standards Inspiration About the Author |
The Inspiration Behind the Quest for Student Engagement
“Student engagement is defined in multiple ways, ranging from students’ effort and persistence to their emotional involvement, use of metacognitive strategies, and motivation to learn”(Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris, 2004; Fredricks & McCloskey 2012; Reschly & Christenson, 2012).
According to the Nation’s Report card (nces.ed.gov), the 2015 average scores in mathematics were 1 and 2 points lower in grades 4 and 8, respectively, than the average scores in 2013. Scores at both grades were higher than those from the earliest mathematics assessments in 1990 by 27 points at grade 4 and 20 points at grade 8. It is vital to keep the scores rising. Even the slightest drop is cause for concern. In August of 2010, the California State Board of Education adopted the California Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for Kindergarten through 12th grade. The goal of the adoption was to provide a more rigorous group of skills that would allow all students to be able to engage deeper into the curriculum and become global thinkers. The skills and knowledge provided by the CCSS would also give students a greater opportunity to succeed in college and careers. In order to assess whether the skills were learned, the state had to create a new test that would assess the comprehension of the skills taught. On January 1, 2014, California Education Code Section 60640 established the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) System to replace the previous standardized test. It was administered to students in grades 3-8 and 11 in 2015 (www.cde.ca.gov). Statewide in all grades, 33 percent met or exceeded the mathematics standard. In 4th grade, 35% of the 461,875 students tested met or exceeded the mathematics standard. Through my obeservations, I felt that students lacked motivation when it cam to performing their math tasks during class. As schools engage in our 21st century skills activities requiring students to engage in critical thinking, communication, collaboration, communication, creativity and agency, unmotivated students find ways to get out of performing in that group setting. The purpose of the study was to see if a blended learning approach could have any effect on student engagement in math. The research question which guided this study was “What are the effects of a Blended Learning Approach on math engagement?” In today’s society, students engage in the use of technology frequently. It was important to investigate the use of technology, Chromebooks, and how it will engage the students in the math lesson in a more successful manner than a whole class math lesson. Analyzing the Needs of the Learner from the View of Sociological, Instructional, Technnological and Educational 
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