Schlechty’s Levels of Engagement

Every Wednesday, I have a day off school. Well, not a day off. I have one period, and that is advisory. Every week, we watch a video on a different subject. Stress, nutrition, gratitude, you get the idea. Often, these are cheesy, and a bore. But this Wednesday, that 4 minute, cheesy video, changed my life. It was on Schlechty’s levels of engagement. I know, the only cool thing about that sentence is the word “Schlechty”. But keep reading, because this dude created something incredible.

Schlechty’s levels of engagement measure how engaged a student is in learning. They focus on 2 main areas of a task, attention and commitment. Attention is the idea that a student should be focused on a specific task, without getting distracted. Commitment is the idea that a student should find the task intrinsically motivating and challenging and therefore work towards mastering it. Schlechty developed the framework for engagement based on these two ideas. The first level is rebellion which involves diverted attention and zero commitment. This student acts out and causes disruption to the class. The second level is retreatism, with no attention and no commitment. This student is not disrupting the learning but is mentally checked out. The third level is ritual compliance which includes low attention and low commitment. This student is simply doing the bare minimum. The fourth level was a rude awakening for me, because it was so synonymous with my own experience. This level is called strategic compliance and it involves high attention but low commitment. This student may look like engagement because they are performing at a high level, but often has an external motivation factor, like grades, rewards, or class rank. This student will often learn at a high level but fail to retain that information over time or transfer it to a new context. The fifth and final level is engagement, and includes high attention and high commitment. This student learns because it is intrinsically rewarding and will learn at a high level and retain information.

Schlecty’s levels of engagement changed the way I look at learning. In certain subjects, I find it hard to progress and use my full potential, which I always amounted to a lack of familiarity and the difficulty of the subject. At the same time I was frustrated, because of classmates who exceled and went above and beyond. I’ve always paid attention in class, studied, and worked hard. So why was I not getting to where they were? Now I realize the power of intrinsic motivation. To go to class not to get good grades, but to learn. To have enthusiasm, focus, and most importantly, commitment.