IDENTIFICATION WITH SCHOOL

The emotional and physical withdrawal of many students from school may be associated with students' failure to identify with school. Identif ication was defined as having a sense of belonging in school and valui ng school and school-related outcomes. This study investigated the ant ecedents of students' identification with school, namely, longitudinal patterns of academic achievement and classroom participation among 1, 335 white and African-American students. Since many researchers have a sserted that disidentification from school is particularly prevalent a mong African-American students, racial group differences were also exa mined. African-American and female students had higher levels of ident ification with school bran did white and male students, respectively. Classroom participation and academic achievement were significant pred ictors of identification. While African-American students had higher l evels of identification than did white students, their positive feelin gs were not attributable to prior academic achievement, Research impli cations include early efforts to interrupt the process of disidentific ation, such as encouraging students' classroom participation.