In her 2022 TEDx Talk, biotechnologist Lola Adeyemo argues, “You don’t have to be an immigrant, a woman, a Black person, or any other dimensions that society calls diversity to seek belonging. As humans we all seek belonging.” As she notes, belonging is not simply fitting in. Psychologist Geoffrey Cohen echoes this idea, writing, “Belonging is the feeling that we’re part of a larger group that values, respects, and cares for us—and to which we feel we have something to contribute” (Cohen, 2022).
The fact is, a sense of belonging is a condition of performance at any age, in any profession, and in any sphere of education. Students with a strong sense of belonging perform better academically (Cai et al., 2022). When students don’t feel they belong, they question their status and membership in the group, which undermines their ability to learn. This also compromises the effectiveness of instruction, however excellent it may be.
When students feel a sense of belonging, they experience measurable health benefits, too, such as improved self-reported wellness and fewer doctor visits (Walton & Cohen, 2011). Emotionally and physically healthy students are better equipped to excel academically. Belonging, therefore, is not a peripheral concern—it’s fundamental to learning.
Let’s look at five actions teachers can take to build students’ sense of belonging. Solid evidence backs their effectiveness, and they don’t cost a thing. They’re not groundbreaking and they’re not new, but they are easy to implement—and sometimes, in the rush of the day, they’re just as easy to forget.
Belonging Builder 1: Greet Students at the Door
Research indicates that when teachers personally greet students before class, students engage more quickly in academic tasks and exhibit higher levels of on-task behavior compared to when such greetings are absent (Allday et al., 2011). In a study of 10 middle school classrooms, engagement increased by 20 percent and problematic behavior decreased by 9 percent when teachers started class by welcoming students at the door (Cook et al., 2018).
The intervention is simple. When greeting students at your door:
- Say the student’s name.
- Make eye contact and match it with a friendly facial expression.
- Use a friendly nonverbal greeting, such as a handshake, high-five, fist-bump, wave, or thumbs-up.
- Give a few words of encouragement, like “Glad you’re here.” Or “Let’s make it count today.”
A few years ago, coauthor Doug was working with a high school math teacher whose students were not only disengaged, but frequently disruptive. As one of the students put it, “We’re not connecting here.” The teacher reluctantly agreed to start greeting students at the door and noted a change within weeks. When one of the students said to the class, “Hey, let’s focus! We’re all a team here, and she’s trying really hard,” she knew the approach had worked. Not only did student engagement improve, but the teacher’s job satisfaction soared.
Belonging Builder 2: Create Meaningful Classroom Responsibilities
A sense of being needed nurtures belonging, a truth that holds for young people as much as it does for adults. One effective way to cultivate this in the classroom is by assigning student jobs that carry real responsibility. This not only fosters a sense of ownership but also strengthens classroom management, enhances student engagement, and builds a strong sense of community.
Meaningful classroom roles help establish relational trust because students recognize that their teachers believe in their capabilities (Demerath et al., 2022), so they’re more likely to take academic risks and engage deeply. And relational trust between students and teachers is an accelerator of learning (Sun, Zhang, & Forsyth, 2023). Further, when students take on responsibilities related to classroom routines, teachers have more time to focus on fostering a cohesive learning environment. Classroom cohesion—in which teachers and students collaborate toward shared learning goals—has a profound effect on student success.
Teachers can assign a variety of classroom roles that empower students, such as discussion facilitator, research assistant, wellness ambassador, and new student liaison. Operational and logistical roles are important, too. A technology support specialist, timekeeper, and data tracker can be vital in a smooth-running classroom. In one study, a middle school teacher who implemented structured classroom responsibilities found qualitative evidence that these roles positively influenced both the classroom environment and students’ sense of belonging (Avis, 2017). By integrating such responsibilities, educators create a culture where students feel trusted and connected—key ingredients for academic and personal growth.
These strategies are easy to implement—but sometimes in the rush of the day, they’re just as easy to forget.
Belonging Builder 3: Use Universal Response Opportunities
As Cohen (2022) noted, belonging includes feeling valued and contributing to the group. But in some classrooms, the only students who contribute are those who volunteer. The teacher calls on students who indicate they’re ready to share, which results in a small subset of the classroom providing the majority of responses. This can negatively affect those who don’t choose to speak up.
To address this issue, some teachers call on students at random, buoyed by evidence that this approach can hold students accountable for their engagement (Knight, Wise, & Sieke, 2016). However, additional evidence shows that some students fear being called on at random and can experience shame and humiliation if they’re not prepared to answer (Cooper, Downing, & Brownell, 2018). Those feelings don’t build a sense of belonging. Meanwhile, students who desperately want to share but feel they have limited opportunities to do so can begin to disengage and come to believe their contributions are not valued.
Thus, wise educators balance the ways in which they ask students to respond. In addition to calling on volunteers and using randomized responses, they might add universal response opportunities, giving all students a safe opportunity to respond at the same time. In a 2023 meta-analysis of 29 studies on using response cards—those reusable cards or signs on which students display their responses to a question or prompt—findings show “increases in test and quiz achievement and levels of participation and decreases in off-task behavior” (Marsh et al., 2023).
Teachers can use any number of universal response techniques, including:
- Personal dry-erase boards
- Hand signals
- Index cards with responses prepopulated on them
- Technology tools such as Kahoot or Canva
- Polls
Coauthor Dominique spoke with a group of elementary students about their experiences with class participation and noticed a striking contrast in their responses. Some students shared that they often felt invisible in class because they weren’t expected to respond to teacher questions. Others, however, expressed that their contributions truly mattered. As one student explained, “Our teacher really wants to know what we think. Everyone is important, and she waits to make sure we all have an answer. Then she helps us if we need it.”
Students are not likely to take an academic risk, much less experience a strong sense of belonging, if their failure-to-success ratio tips to failure.
Belonging Builder 4: Boost Productive Group Work
We have emphasized in our work that students need opportunities during lessons to interact with peers using academic language (Fisher & Frey, 2021). This enables students to consolidate their understanding, hear the thinking of their peers, and deepen their learning.
However, too often there is no accountability for collaborative learning. One student may do all the work for the group, or students might work independently, doing the best they can on their own, and then combine their individual efforts at the end to submit a final product to the teacher.
We see collaborative learning as comprising two different categories of instructional moves: group work and productive group work. In group work, teachers can implement think-pair-share; carousel, which gets everyone moving around the room to engage with various topics; and numbered heads together, in which students who have “numbered off” put their heads together to answer a question, with any one of the students likely to be called on to deliver and explain that answer. Although group work enables students to interact, it requires teachers to actively monitor student participation and responses; they recognize that they may never know what each student actually contributed to the conversation.
Productive group work, on the other hand, may involve jigsaw (in which groups of students are asked to become experts on different aspects of a topic and then share what they have learned); collaborative posters; and book clubs. Productive group work does involve individual accountability, and teachers should use it when they want to deepen students’ understanding through argumentation.
Consider a collaborative poster. Each student in a group is given a different color marker, and they contribute to the poster in their assigned color. Teachers can immediately see individual student contributions, providing insight into the instructional next steps needed to advance learning. During productive group work, the teacher can meet with small groups of students or take care of other tasks because accountability is built into the task itself.
When teachers successfully structure productive group work, students feel heard and know that their peers need their contribution for the group to be successful. They learn self-regulation and self-efficacy as they collaborate with others in the give-and-take of productive group work. Students also report a stronger sense of belonging in school when they have opportunities to collaborate because it fosters connection, shared experiences, and a sense of community (Webb, Farivar, & Mastergeorge, 2002).
Belonging Builder 5: Harness the Power of Past Success
When students have a strong sense of belonging, they’re much more likely to engage in academic risk-taking, which includes the willingness to ask questions, offer ideas, and complete complex tasks. And when students engage in academic risk-taking, they learn more.
But students are not likely to take an academic risk, much less experience a strong sense of belonging, if their failure-to-success ratio tips to failure. When it does, they come to expect failure, at least within that group or classroom, and they participate less frequently in group activities. When their failure-to-success ratio tips to success, however, students come to expect success and see failures as temporary setbacks. They experience a much stronger bond with others in the group, and they recognize the value of their contributions, which reinforces their sense of belonging.
To attend to individual students’ success-to-failure ratios, teachers can chunk tasks and assignments to increase the ratio in favor of success. We’re not suggesting that you lower the level of expectation or reduce rigor, but rather that you intentionally plan for students to experience success more frequently than failure. One simple method for increasing students’ success experiences has demonstrated positive outcomes.
Researchers studied 3rd and 6th grade students engaged in challenging math tasks (Finn, Miele, & Wigfield, 2025). In some cases, students were given 10 difficult math problems to work on; in other cases, in addition to the 10 difficult math problems, students were given five related but only moderately difficult math problems that they had already completed successfully. The researchers found that reminding students of their earlier success had a positive effect on students’ persistence and performance. If teachers apply this concept more widely, reminding students that they have been successful in the past, they prime their students for success today.
Just Commit to It
Fostering a sense of belonging in the classroom is not just an abstract ideal. It’s a powerful, research-backed strategy that directly affects student engagement, well-being, and academic success. By making belonging a priority, we not only enhance learning but also nurture the confidence and resilience that students carry far beyond the classroom.
These five no-cost interventions are simple, yet transformative practices. They make a lasting difference—so let’s commit to them every day.
Reflect & Discuss
Which of the five belonging builders do you tend to skip when time is tight? What gets in the way, and how can you address those barriers?
What are some meaningful classroom responsibilities you could introduce or enhance to increase student agency and trust?
How can you help students reflect on past successes to build confidence—especially in areas where their failure-to-success ratio has felt discouraging?
