February 7, 2013

The Power of Student Engagement

Feb. 7, 2013 at 10:11 AM | By Peter Cookson | Comment Count

Recently, I sat down with Todd Bloom, the chief academic officer of Hobsons, to talk about trends in education. Hobsons is a true education solutions company that serves millions of students in nearly eight thousand schools, colleges and universities.

As chief academic officer, Todd is responsible for leading the policy, research, and government relations efforts for Hobsons’ higher education and K-12 divisions. He holds a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from the University of Wisconsin and began his career as a teacher, first on a Navajo reservation in the Southwest and then as at a public school outside of Chicago. Having held several leadership positions in education, his understanding of education is deep and grounded in the lives of students.

During our chat, we hit on a wide-range of issues—including big data and institutional quality and productivity—which I will share in several upcoming blog posts. First, let’s talk about student engagement.

As a former teacher and now CAO, Todd spends a lot of his time thinking about how we keep students engaged in their learning, and hence, in school. For Todd, there are three key factors in engagement: person attention, individualized learning, and backward planning.

“Students start dropping out in the fifth grade,” he said, reminding us of the depth of disengagement many American kids feel in school. “The most important thing in any kid’s life is having someone who cares about him or her—and that kind of engagement should begin right at the start of a child’s education, that’s why early education programs are so important. But, perhaps even more powerful than adult attention is peer-to-peer mentoring and discussion. Students operate in a very connected, social world today and their learning should mirror that world.”

This entry is an excerpt from the Whiteboard Advisors Blog, published on January 30, 2012.