Psychological Theories of Educational Engagement: A Multi-Method Approach to Studying Individual Engagement and Institutional Change

INTRODUCTION As teachers, administrators, scholars, and practitioners, one critical issue we face in the academic world is how to foster the academic success and psychological well-being of future generations of teachers, scholars, and practitioners. In some cases, even the most well-prepared and academically motivated students enter law school with the drive and ability to succeed, but along the way, may encounter difficulties that interfere with their potential success in law school and beyond. What are the barriers to engagement, academic success and psychological well-being that impede some students? How might we understand the process of and investment in legal education, particularly for students who have been historically on the margin of inclusion, namely ethnic minority group members and women? What means of institutional change can be implemented to foster engagement, achievement, and well-being for all students? At the heart of these questions is the motivation to understand and explore the academic and psychological well-being of students entering a rigorous and challenging career arena. These questions reflect the challenges of our time as access to higher education has become a reality for students from all walks of life-particularly those who have been historically excluded from such arenas on the basis of factors such as gender, race, socioeconomic status, international status, and sexual orientation. The answers to these questions require researchers and institutional change agents to formulate committed programs of evaluation, experimentation and intervention in the legal education system. In order to effectively study and create such meaningful interventions, the initial work can be informed by theoretical models and experimental methodologies used in the field of social psychology to explore issues of motivation, personality, engagement, and stigmatization. In this paper, we introduce a methodological approach to studying the psychological of law students drawn from research and theory in the field of psychology. We provide some preliminary insights into the types of experiences and factors that may compromise versus those that foster investment and success. I. DEFINING AND MEASURING ENGAGEMENT Defining engagement is a critical first step in the process of identifying those factors that may directly or indirectly affect it. As we define it here, refers not only to the academic investment, motivation, and commitment that students demonstrate within their institution (both in and out of the classroom context), but also to the psychological connection, comfort, and sense of belonging that students feel toward their institution, their peers, professors and administrators. Thus, encompasses the institutional, situational, and individual factors that may impact any given student. These factors may work independently or synergistically to create a global culture of law school for each student. Each factor informs and impacts the others, creating a network of potential sources of disengagement, and consequently, windows of opportunities for interventions. For example, the rules and regulations about grading and ranking may create an atmosphere of competition and stress that threatens the comfort and confidence of students. Feeling a psychological disconnect from professors and peers may undermine one's ability to form work groups and engage comfortably in the classroom environment. Likewise, doubting one's competence and academic preparation for law school can interfere with a student's confidence and comfort in interacting with peers and professors even in non-academic settings. For the purpose of this paper, we treat engagement as reflecting both the academic and psychological investment, as well as the comfort of students, and explore the impact of select institutional, situational and individual factors. A. Institutional Factors Institutional factors often include the policies, regulations, and structures within the academic system that may create static and inflexible systems, which students must cope with. …