“I’m Not Learning”: The Role of Academic Relevancy for Low-Achieving Students

ABSTRACT When students enter high school with low achievement, they are likely to exit high school with low achievement. Given this stability in achievement, it is important to identify factors that can shift academic trajectories. Promising factors include the degree to which school is experienced as relevant and intrinsically motivating to students. Little is known about how these factors together are predictive of classroom engagement and achievement for low achievers in high school. Sampling a group of 44 low-achieving high school students, comprising Black students, the authors explored the effects of academic relevancy on engagement and achievement. Regression analyses show that students who found coursework personally relevant had increased engagement in Grade 10. Importantly, this relationship was mediated through intrinsic motivation.

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