Researchers & Public Schools

The Center for Evaluation, Policy, & Research (CEPR) at Indiana University believes the High School Survey of Student Engagement (HSSSE) and the Middle Grades Survey of Student Engagement (MGSSE) offer important opportunities for researchers and public schools or districts to better understand how students engage with their peers and adults in schools, their classrooms and learning experiences, and their schools more broadly.

HSSSE and MGSSE data can be invaluable to schools as student engagement is one of the keys to building a safe, positive and creative school climate and culture to increase student achievement, and decrease student boredom, alienation, and drop-out rates. Unlike knowledge-based assessment instruments, HSSSE and MGSSE provide invaluable student engagement data that showcase how schools instill 21st century skills in their students while providing a caring and safe environment that nurtures the whole child.

Dimensions of Engagement

The Surveys of Student Engagement define "student engagement" as a complex, multi-dimensional construct, with three primary components.

Engagement of the mind
Survey questions describe:

students' effort, investment, and strategies for learning;
the work students do and the ways students go about their work;
engagement connected to instructional time.

Engagement in the life of the school
Survey questions describe:

students' actions in social, co-curricular, and non-academic school activities, including interactions with other students;
the ways in which students interact within the school community;
engagement with the school outside of instructional time.

Engagement in the life of the school
Survey questions describe:

students' feelings (positive or negative) about their current school situation;
students' attitudes toward the people with whom they interact, the work, and school structures;
students' affective reactions.

Researchers and public schools have two ways that they can use HSSSE or MGSSE to better understand students’ engagement: 1) working with CEPR to administer HSSSE and/or MGSSE, or 2) conducting their own study with HSSSE and/or MGSSE. These two options are outlined below.

For additional information, questions, or to move forward with either option, please contact CEPR’s HSSSE-MGSSE Team at hssse@indiana.edu.

Working with CEPR to Administer

CEPR can work with researchers or public schools and districts to administer HSSSE or MGSSE.

As every school’s, district’s, or project’s needs may be different, our HSSSE-MGSSE Team can work with you to discuss possibilities for administering the surveys and providing results and reports.

Costs are determined on a case-by-case basis, depending on the scope of the work.

For questions or to begin working with CEPR, contact us at hssse@indiana.edu.

Conducting Your Own Study

HSSSE or MGSSE can be used "as is", or modified to suit your needs, but in either case you must credit its original source.

By using the HSSSE or MGSSE instruments, you must agree to the following:

Provide CEPR the de-identified data collected to use for additional validity and reliability analysis
Share with CEPR publications, presentations, evaluation reports, etc. that include data collected and/or results from your use of these instruments.

CEPR will take appropriate measures to maintain the confidentiality of all data.

To acquire the survey instruments and to agree to the above terms, please contact hssse@indiana.edu.

Researchers & Public Schools

Dimensions of Engagement

cognitive/intellectual/academic

social/behavioral/participatory

emotional

Working with CEPR to Administer

Conducting Your Own Study

Center for Evaluation, Policy, & Research resources