POE: Understanding Innovative Learning Places and Their Impact on Student Academic Engagement—Index 6–8 ‘Alpha’ Survey Developments | Scott-Webber | Journal of Education and Learning | CCSE

New evidence builds upon the Student Engagement IndexTM and Teacher Engagement IndexTM research (Scott-Webber, Konyndyk, & French, 2019; Scott-Webber, Konyndyk, French, & French, 2018; Scott-Webber, Konyndyk, French, Lembke, & Kinney, 2017) determining post-occupancy answers to, “Can we demonstrate that the design of the built environment for grades 6–8 impacts student academic engagement levels post-occupancy?” The early studies used respondents from grades 9–12. This one is from users in grades 6–8 (‘alpha’ pilot). All studies were conducted in the USA as convenience samples. Engagement performance is a high predictor of student success across multiple domains and learning/work experiences. Specifically, “Research that shows that engagement, the time and energy students devote to educationally purposeful activities, is the best single predictor of their learning and personal development” (Anonymous, NSSE, 2010, p. 2), and thus our research focus. From both the students and educators perspectives, design of the built space impacts engagement performance (p < .0001)