Where is the Target? An Examination of the Conceptions of Student Engagement within a School Community - Article 7

Oct 15, 2026

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“Where is the Target?” examines how student engagement is understood and operationalized within High Plains High School during a major school redesign initiative in rural Kansas. The study is grounded in stakeholders’ perspectives, using survey findings that about 38% of students reported feeling “disengaged,” alongside contextual details such as English learners, economic disadvantage, and the redesign program Kansans Can. It explores structural changes, early successes and challenges, and analyzes faculty, student, and family stories about engagement, purpose, and needed supports.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages18

Reading Time45 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Student engagement concerns in HPHS

Kansans Can redesign context

Early findings and disengagement indicators

Structural changes and implementation year

Rural high school engagement challenges

Educational Considerations | Volume 47 Number 1 | Article 7 | | --- | --- | | June 2021
Where is the Target? An Examination of the Conceptions of Student Engagement within a School Community
Gary Andersen
Fort Hays State University, [ggandersen@mail.fhsu.edu](ggandersen@mail.fhsu.edu)
Linda E. Feldstein Ed. D.
Fort Hays State University, [lefeldstein@fhsu.edu](lefeldstein@fhsu.edu)
Follow this and additional works at: [https://newprairiepress.org/edconsiderations](https://newprairiepress.org/edconsiderations)
Part of the Educational Methods Commons

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License. | | Recommended Citation Andersen, Gary and Feldstein, Linda E. Ed. D. (2021) "Where is the Target? An Examination of the Conceptions of Student Engagement within a School Community," Educational Considerations: Vol. 47: No. 1. [https://doi.org/10.4148/0146-9282.2242](https://doi.org/10.4148/0146-9282.2242) This Article is brought to you for free and open access by New Prairie Press. It has been accepted for inclusion in Educational Considerations by an authorized administrator of New Prairie Press. For more information, please [contact](contact cads@k-state.edu)[ cads@k-state.edu](contact cads@k-state.edu). Where is the Target? An Examination of the Conceptions of Student Engagement within a School Community Gary Andersen and Linda E. Feldstein Introduction The southwestern corner of Kansas is largely a rural landscape of prairie grasses and agriculture. Located in a small town in this region, in an environment that some would characterize as isolated and harsh, High Plains High School (HPHS) is committed to trying something new for the sake of its students. This research reveals stakeholders’ conceptions about student engagement at HPHS in the context of a major school redesign effort. The student body is largely Hispanic (79%) with significant levels of English Language Learners (52%) and economically disadvantaged individuals (80%) (Kansas State Department of Education, 2019) . The top five major employers in the community are a meat-packing plant, the school district, a community college, a medical center, and Walmart. In 2017, the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) launched an ambitious school redesign project, titled Kansans Can, which invited schools to redesign their traditional school model for a more student-focused system. This new vision is focused on improvements, not only in academic skills, but also employability and citizenship skills, citing the need to move away from a “one size fits all” education system that relies on state assessments as a primary source of accountability toward a more student-focused system. Kansans Can is organized around five outcomes established by the Kansas State Board of Education: social-emotional growth, kindergarten readiness, use of individual plans of study, high school graduation, and post secondary success (KSDE, n.d.) . High Plains High School was among the schools selected for the inaugural round of school redesign sites; and as such, it is hoped that they will serve as a model for additional Kansas school districts chosen to participate in future waves of redesign initiatives. In the beginning stages of the redesign planning, High Plains High School faculty and staff administered a survey to all students and discovered that approximately 38% of students felt “disengaged” at school. This disengagement was indicated by low agreement with statements about whether school was fun, or the extent to which students felt they get to do what they do best every day. HPHS administrators found these results worthy of further study in an attempt to better understand how school engagement was being understood and operationalized by students, faculty, and families. High Plains High School has engaged in some structural changes to their s

FAQs

What problem does the study address about engagement?

The study investigates how engagement is conceived and enacted at High Plains High School, prompted by survey results showing about 38% of students felt “disengaged.”

What is Kansans Can and why is it relevant here?

Kansans Can is a Kansas school redesign project launched by the Kansas State Department of Education to move beyond a one-size-fits-all model, emphasizing multiple outcomes. HPHS was selected for the inaugural redesign sites, making the initiative the study’s context.

What kinds of school changes were made during the redesign?

HPHS implemented changes such as removing passing period bells, using shorter class time periods called Mods, and adding time dedicated to personal tutoring and assistance as part of the redesign.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by acoobca