Engagement

• Engagement has been defined as the amount of time a child spends interacting with his or her environment (adults, peers, or materials) in a developmentally and contextually appropriate manner, at different levels of competence.
• It is arguably the most undervalued construct in early childhood, presumably in part because it is not considered one of the developmental domains on which tests and curricula are based.
• The breadth of engagement refers to the amount of time children spend being busy or participating; for many children, increasing how long they attend to a “task” or participate in a home or classroom activity is important.
• The depth of engagement refers to the sophistication of children’s behavior, from infantile repetitive behavior to the symbolic, constructive, persistent behavior of preschoolers.
• Although engagement is vital for all children’s learning, it is especially well studied with children with disabilities, whose engagement levels tend to be lower than those of children without disabilities.

Research: Grants

• U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitative Research.  Innovation Grant.  "Child engagement in early intervention with infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with disabilities."
• Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center. Small Grants Competition. "Engagement validation for research with children with mental retardation."
• U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, National Institute on Early Childhood Development and Education, Field-Initiated Studies. “Engagement as an Outcome of Program Quality.” (3 years).
• U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Field-Initiated Research, "Improving Engagement in Preschoolers With Disabilities." (3 years)
• U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Model Demonstration Research, “The Engagement Classroom: A Model for Preschool Inclusion.” (3 years)

Research: Publications

• McWilliam, R. A., Trivette, C. M., & Dunst, C. J. (1985).  Behavior engagement as a measure of the efficacy of early intervention.  Analysis and Intervention in Developmental Disabilities, 5, 59-71.
• Dunst, C. J., McWilliam, R. A., & Holbert, K. (1986).  Assessment of preschool classroom environments.  Diagnostique, 11, 212-232.
• McWilliam, R. A. (1991).  Targeting teaching at children's use of time: Perspectives on preschoolers' engagement.  TEACHING Exceptional Children, 23(4), 42-43.
• McWilliam, R. A., & Ware, W. B. (1994). The reliability of observations of young children's engagement: An application of generalizability theory.  Journal of Early Intervention, 18, 34-47.
• McWilliam, R. A., & Bailey, D. B. (1995). Effects of classroom social structure and disability on engagement. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 15, 123-147.
• de Kruif, R. E. L., & McWilliam, R. A. (1999). Multivariate relationships among developmental age, global engagement, and observed child engagement. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 14, 515-536.
• Ridley, S. L., McWilliam, R. A., & Oates, C. S. (2000). Observed engagement as an indicator of child care program quality. Early Education & Development, 11, 143-146. 1
• Raspa, M. J., McWilliam, R. A., & Ridley, S. M. (2001). Child care quality and children's engagement. Early Education and Development, 12, 209-224. 1
• McWilliam, R. A., Scarborough, A. A., & Kim, H. (2003). Adult interactions and child engagement. Early Education & Development, 14, 7-27.
• Casey, A. M., & McWilliam, R. A. (2005). Where is everybody? Organizing adults to promote child engagement. Young Exceptional Children, 8(2), 2-10.
• Ridley, S. M., & McWilliam, R. A. (2000). Observing children at play: Using engagement to evaluate activities and the classroom environment. Children and Families, 14(3), 36-38.
• McWilliam, R. A. & Casey, A. M., (2008). Engagement of every child in the preschool classroom. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Co.
• McWilliam, R. A., & Bailey, D. B. (1992).  Promoting engagement and mastery.  In D.B. Bailey & M. Wolery (Eds.), Teaching infants and preschoolers with disabilities (pp. 229-255).  Columbus, OH: Merrill.

Consultation, Training, and Technical Assistance Opportunities

• Promoting classroom engagement
• Measuring classroom engagement

Future Directions
More research is needed on

• The relationship between global engagement and context-specific engagement;
• The relationship between incidental teaching and individual engagement;
• Engagement at home;
• The predictive power of preschool engagement for functioning in the early elementary years and beyond; and
• Feasible measurement methods.