Optimal Learning Environments to Promote Student Engagement analyzes the psychological, social, and academic phenomena comprising engagement, framing it as critical to learning and development. Drawing on positive psychology, flow studies, and theories of motivation, the book conceptualizes engagement as a learning experience, explaining how it occurs (or not) and how schools can adapt to maximize it among adolescents. Examples of empirically supported environments promoting engagement are provided, representing alternative high schools, Montessori schools, and extracurricular programs. The book identifies key innovations including community-school partnerships, technology-supported learning, and the potential for engaging learning opportunities during an expanded school day. Among the topics covered:

1. Introduction: Towards Optimal Learning Environments in Schools.- 2. Aims of Education Revisited (Einstein's E = MC2 of Education).- 3. The Nature Engagement in Schools.- 4. Measuring Student Engagement in High School Classrooms and What We Have.- 5. Engagement as an Individual Trait and its Relationship to Achievement.- 6. Connecting to "The How" of Classroom Engagement: Instruction and Optimal.- 7. Connecting to "The Who": The Primacy of Supportive.- 8.  Connecting to "The What": Engaging Approaches to Traditional Subject Matter.- 9. Engagement Beyond the Core Academic Subjects.- 10. Private School Models and The Case of Montessori Schools.- 11. Alternative Public School Models.- 12. Learning from Research on Youth Engagement During Out-of-School Time.- 13. Model After-School Programs.- 14. Technological Innovations on the Horizon.- 15. Re-engineering the Schools of Tomorrow: Towards Community Sponsorship.