🔗 linkedin.com/in/david-howes-ed-d-5049775a

Research Focus: Teaching & Learning • Leadership • Systems Thinking

“Resolutions on Learner Engagement: How a Community of Practice Can Be the Engine to Drive an On-Track Culture for Ninth Grade”

What challenge did your research address?

My research focused on student disengagement in high school, in schools facing high rates of chronic absenteeism and students off track to graduate on time. I wanted to understand how a team of educators could work together to help ninth graders become more engaged and take greater ownership of their learning.

What inspired you to pursue this research?

Much of my career has centered on students at risk of disengaging from school. When I began this research, I was leading an alternative high school program for over-aged, under-credited students trying to get back on track. That work pushed me to study the processes and practices that actually help students stay engaged. When COVID hit, my program disintegrated within the year, but I stayed committed to the research and to working with other educators to find the most effective, pragmatic ways to build classrooms and schools that support engagement.

What did your research find, and what is its impact?

My study found that, implemented with consistency and fidelity, a Community of Practice framework offers a sustainable, replicable structure for educator collaboration and student-centered, relationship-driven practice, and that these practices proved effective in re-engaging ninth graders at risk of disconnection. The findings point schools toward using these structures to support individual students, build a school-wide on-track culture, and extend the model into upper grades, offering a promising path for schools looking to strengthen engagement through relational, systemic approaches.

“A Community of Practice framework offers a sustainable, replicable structure for educator collaboration and student-centered, relationship-driven practice.”

David Howes