The objective of this study is threefold. The first objective is to provide an integrated perspective towards the territorial engagement of universities and their related models and strategies. The second objective is to verify whether tendencies pointing to an integrated strategy of university engagement are emerging in real settings, while the third objective is to deepen the understanding of the university’s potential contribution to social innovation practices. The first part of the work is devoted to review the literature on the institutionalization of university third mission and its relation to university territorial engagement and it presents an analysis of the different university models and strategies adopted by the academic system to reach engagement goals in the last decades. In this context, the System-based University is introduced as a university model which encompasses an integrated approach to university territorial engagement. Such model is built upon contributions on Civic and Developmental universities and their role in local socio-economic dynamics. It presents itself as an integrated model that includes but goes beyond the focus on technology transfer featuring third mission activities embodied at the beginning of the 21st century by the so-called Entrepreneurial university. The System-based model is represented by three main factors: i) synergy between the core missions of teaching and research and the third mission, ii) alignment between the needs expressed by the territory and the knowledge produced by the university, and iii) a balanced approach to research excellence. The second part of the work proposes an empirical analysis aimed at identifying tendencies towards system-based models of university, in particular within the Italian academic system. This part makes use of multivariate statistical techniques. Eventually, the third part aims at deepening the role of universities in the social innovation realm, drawing on the few contributions on this topic and on a recent stream of research that connects social innovation to quadruple helix model of interaction between government, industry, universities and civil society. Namely, this last part investigates how and why universities may engage in quadruple helix partnerships, applying an exploratory case study methodology on data stemming from the Urban Innovative Actions, a novel European programme in the context of social innovation in urban areas.

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This research study measures the impact of academic engagement and operational engagement, the strategies that are used by business schools for sustainability integration. The effectiveness of these strategies is studied through their impact on business students’ sustainability perception, their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) attitude, and their current behavior regarding sustainability. It is a quantitative study in which Independent sample t-test is used based on sample of 158 business students from Jonkoping International Business School and Gothenburg School of Business, Economics, and Law. Our findings suggest that the impact of sustainability integration strategies used by business schools is significantly different, that is to say that business school that is using operational engagement in addition to academic engagement is more effective than the business school that is using academic engagement only for sustainability integration. More specifically we found that business students’ sustainability perception, their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) attitude and their current behavior regarding sustainability is better in school using operational engagement as compared to the business school that is not using operational engagement. This implies that for sustainability integration it is important to provide practical demonstration and opportunities to business students in order to make them responsible future business leaders.

Children with intellectual disabilities (ID) in inclusive classrooms differ in ways of processing information and learning speed compared to their peers without disabilities. Therefore teaching methods must be adapted to their individual needs. Peer support is seen as an additional form of improving students’ academic engagement. This systematic review focuses on peer supported interventions which facilitate academic engagement of children and youth with mild to profound ID. It contains six studies, which met pre-determined inclusion criteria focusing specifically on academic engagement. The studies were analysed to examine (a) different types of peer support, (b) peer support characteristics, (c) definition of academic engagement of students with ID and (d) if a change in academic engagement as an outcome can be evaluated after a peer support intervention. In this review, the data of 18 students with mild to profound ID and their peers in the age of 8 to 17 years, were included. Four different types of peer support intervention were identified, which included different characteristics mostly focussing on supporting students’ communication, access to information and active participation in class. The different definitions of academic engagement which were found hindered comparison of results. Nevertheless, all studies had a positive effect on the academic engagement of students with ID. Future research is needed to investigate the long-term impact of different types of peer support on academic engagement of students with ID and their need in relation to specific forms of ID.

One of the most evident signs that a child is on the path to dropping out of [BT1] school is disengagement from school (Kortering & Christenson, 2009). Given the amount of time that young people spend with their peers and the influence that peers have (Monahan, Steinberg, & Caufman, 2009), there is a need to better understand the role that peers play in the decision to drop out of school (Farmer, Estell, Leug, Trott, Biship, & Caims, 2003). Using Ericson’s stages of psychosocial development (1956), social identity theory, and self-categorization theory as a framework, an afterschool program in the form of a social club was designed and implemented. The goal was to foster friendships between academically engaged students and disengaged students, using a short-term, cost effective intervention. It was hypothesized that the new friends would act as role models giving the disengaged students a more accurate perception of positive academic behaviors and the related benefits, thus leading to a positive change in academic engagement. This study used a mixed-methods design: a quantitative phase consisting of pretest-posttest surveys administered to teachers and students in order to assess possible changes in student academic engagement and a second pretest-posttest survey administered to students in order to determine if any new friendships between academically engaged and at-risk students had formed. A second, qualitative phase used focus groups to gain insight into the students’ perceptions of their academic experience. The findings of this study contribute to the current literature on dropout by providing insight into the possibility of utilizing peers as a catalyst to academic engagement in students who are at risk for school failure and high school drop out, in particular those with disabilities. In addition, the findings reiterate the importance of positive student-teacher relations and the importance of ongoing attempts to create those relations. The results of this study remind us that there is no single approach to solving the problem of high school dropout. However, by providing diverse opportunities for at-risk students to develop positive perceptions of the academic experience it is possible to ultimately increase academic engagement and reduce dropout. [BT1]Abstract body text must not exceed 350 words.

Finding of previous research has shown that disruptive behavior can impair students’ academic success (Pierce, Reid, & Epstein, 2004), as well as increase teacher’s stress level (Westling, 2010). Class Pass Intervention (CPI) is a Tier 2 intervention designed to decrease disruptive behavior and increase academic engagement, however, thus far research on the effects of CPI has been limited to typically developing elementary and high school students with escape and attention-maintained problem behaviors. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to replicate and extend previous research on the effects of CPI on problem behavior and academic engagement however with students whose problem behavior was multiply-maintained. The study used a multiple baseline design to assess experimental control. In the current study, CPI led to a decrease in problem behavior and increase in academic engagement for two students with ADHD and one student at risk of ADHD, all of whom engaged in problem behavior maintained by escape, access to attention, or both. In addition, results of a social validity assessment completed with teachers and students indicated that the intervention was effective and easy, respectively.

This action research was an analysis of a group of eighth grade gifted students ‘classroom engagement in a large urban school district. Over a two-week period a variety of data were collected. Data were collected using the Student Engagement Instrument (Appleton & Christenson, 2004), which is a self-report of students’ perceptions of engagement. Observation data of student engagement were collected using a teacher developed student engagement checklist, which measured academic and behavioral indications of student engagement. At the end of the two week observation period students participated in an exit interview focused on their perceptions of student engagement. The student engagement interview was adapted from an analysis of elementary student engagement carried out by Parn (2006). The data collected were analyzed according to the academic, behavioral, cognitive, and affective engagement subtypes. The findings showed that the highest levels of engagement were in the sub-types of behavioral and academic engagement. Levels of affective/psychological engagement were lower than levels of cognitive engagement. The results demonstrated that affective/psychological student engagement was positively related with cognitive engagement, behavioral engagement, and academic engagement.

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This study compared the effects of high-tech (e.g., clickers) and low-tech (e.g., response cards) active responding strategies during whole-group English language arts in two first-grade classrooms serving students with and without disabilities. The authors combined an ABAB reversal design with an alternating treatments design to compare the impact of using high-tech (clickers) and low-tech (response cards and hand raising) modalities on academic engagement, accuracy of responding, and disruptive behavior across four teacher-nominated students in two first-grade classrooms. During baseline, the teacher conducted her lesson as planned by having the students raise his/her hand to answer questions. In the intervention phase, students alternated between using preprinted response cards and clickers each session to answer the teacher’s questions. When using the pre-printed response cards or clickers, the students were instructed to hold up the index card with the correct answer or click the correct answer on his/her remote after the teacher read the question. The results of the study indicate that both active responding strategy (ARS) modalities were equally effective in increasing student academic engagement and decreasing disruptive behavior.

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