Reimagining Engagement: How Intentional Design Can Transform the Crisis in Today’s Schools

Across the nation, educators are grappling with a challenge that has quietly grown into a defining issue of our time. Students are drifting. Motivation feels fragile. Curiosity seems harder to spark. Many classrooms echo with the tension between what we hope learning could be and what the day-to-day experience often becomes. Teachers feel it deeply, and students feel it too. Beneath the surface of test scores and attendance reports lies something more concerning: a crisis of engagement.

This is about more than short attention spans or the distractions of modern life. It's about connection—students struggling to connect with the content they study, with the adults who guide them, and with the purpose behind why school matters. Without that connection, even the best-planned lesson can fall flat, and even the most dedicated teachers can struggle to reach their learners.

Yet this moment also holds an enormous opportunity. Engagement can be rebuilt, but doing so requires us to move beyond programs that promise quick results and toward designing school experiences that speak to the hearts and minds of students. To find clues for how to do this, we can look to a field built entirely on the promise of engagement: the world of themed entertainment design.

Disney’s Imagineers have spent decades perfecting the art of creating environments that pull people in, sustain their interest, and leave them with memories that linger. When I began studying their work early in my career, I recognized patterns that echoed what I had seen in the most effective classrooms and learning experiences. Over the last 35 years—as a teacher, coach, principal, district leader, professor, and now consultant—I have watched what does and does not help students invest in their own learning. Again and again, the practices that succeeded aligned remarkably well with the same design principles the Imagineers use every day.

This realization led me to develop what I now call Imagineering Education, a set of guiding ideas rooted in four pillars: story, space, experience, and people. These pillars offer a practical roadmap for schools ready to address the engagement crisis with creativity, intention, and authenticity.

Before exploring how these principles can help us move forward, it’s important to understand how we arrived at this moment.

The Causes Behind the Engagement Crisis

The disengagement we see in schools today did not appear overnight. It emerged from a series of cultural, emotional, and structural shifts that collided in ways few anticipated.

Students have returned to school with deeper needs and wider emotional gaps than in years past, the lingering effects of the disruption of schooling that occurred during the pandemic. When students feel disconnected emotionally, their cognitive engagement suffers as well.

At the same time, much of what they encounter in school feels disconnected from their lived experiences. In a world where information comes alive in visually rich, interactive formats, too many classrooms still rely on methods that feel passive and distant. Lessons that lack context or relevance struggle to compete with the vibrant learning students experience elsewhere.

The physical spaces in which learning takes place often add to the problem. Many classrooms look and function much like they did decades ago—uniform desks, harsh lighting, and walls filled with overcrowded visuals. These spaces unintentionally communicate that learning is something to be controlled rather than explored.

And, of course, teachers themselves are navigating extraordinary pressures. Exhaustion and burnout affect the energy they bring into the room, and when adults struggle to stay engaged, students feel it immediately.

The result is predictable: students withdraw, curiosity fades, behavior challenges grow, and teachers begin to feel like they’re fighting an uphill battle. Engagement becomes the casualty.

The Cost of Disengagement

The impact of this crisis is evident in nearly every metric we track. Chronic absenteeism has risen sharply. Motivation and persistence have declined. Academic growth is uneven. Many classrooms feel dominated by compliance rather than creativity, and teachers often feel as though they are working harder than ever with diminishing returns.

Perhaps most concerning is what students internalize when disengagement becomes the norm. They begin to believe that learning is something done to them, not something they participate in. School becomes an obligation rather than a journey. Once that belief takes root, the work of rebuilding engagement becomes much more complex—but not impossible.

A Path Forward: Designing with Intention

Across my years in education, I’ve observed something important: engagement can be designed. It doesn’t happen by chance, and it doesn’t appear because we demand it. It arises when we shape learning environments that speak to students as human beings—where curiosity, relevance, agency, and connection are intentionally woven into the experience.

That realization is what led me to study Disney’s Imagineers more deeply. Their work provided a lens for understanding why certain educational experiences thrived while others faltered. I began to see that the most engaging classrooms shared four essential ingredients: a compelling story, a thoughtfully crafted space, a meaningful experience, and the presence of people who bring energy and heart to the work.

These four pillars—story, space, experience, and people—now form the foundation of Imagineering Education, a framework that helps schools rethink engagement from the ground up.

Story

Story provides purpose. It gives learning a narrative arc and helps students understand why the journey matters. When students see themselves as characters with a role to play, learning becomes active and personal.

Space

Space is a silent teacher. It shapes behavior, influences mood, and signals what is possible. When classrooms are intentionally designed to support movement, collaboration, and curiosity, students respond with greater investment.

Experience

Experience is where engagement is earned. Students need opportunities to explore, build, question, imagine, and create. When learning becomes a journey rather than a task, engagement naturally rises.

People

People are the heart of it all. The relationships students form with their teachers and peers determine the emotional climate of the classroom. When teachers feel supported and encouraged to bring creativity into their work, their enthusiasm becomes contagious.

These pillars are not abstract ideals; they are practical tools that work in real classrooms. I have seen them transform disengaged environments into places where students feel energized and eager to participate. They offer a path forward that honors both the art and science of teaching.

Rebuilding a Culture of Engagement

A more engaged school begins with intentional design, and each pillar plays a distinct role in shaping that transformation.

Story anchors learning in meaning. A well-crafted narrative gives students a reason to lean in, offering a sense of direction and purpose that carries them from one challenge to the next.

Space sets the emotional tone for the day. A thoughtfully arranged classroom—with places to gather, explore, think, and create—signals that learning is active and that students are welcome to participate fully.

Experience brings energy to the process of learning. Hands-on projects, authentic challenges, movement, collaboration, and moments of discovery help students feel the joy of doing rather than merely observing.

People bring every idea to life. The relationships, culture, and connections in a school shape how students feel about themselves and their place in the learning community. A supportive, creative, and energized teaching force can elevate even ordinary moments into meaningful ones.

Together, these four pillars help build an environment where engagement is not forced but naturally invited—a place where students feel supported, challenged, and eager to contribute.

Taking the Next Step: A Resource for Educators Ready to Reimagine

If this vision inspires you and you want a deeper, more practical path forward, I invite you to explore my new book, Imagineering Education: A Guide to Creating the Most Magical Schools on Earth. It expands these ideas through stories, examples, and strategies drawn from classrooms, museums, and theme-park design principles.

For school leaders and teachers ready to put these ideas into action, the Imagineering Education Online Course offers a step-by-step framework for transforming classrooms and school culture through story, space, experience, and people. It’s created for teachers, principals, and superintendents who want to reignite engagement and build environments where students feel inspired to learn every single day.

The crisis of engagement is real, but it is not permanent. With creativity, intention, and a willingness to rethink how we design the learning experience, we can create schools that feel vibrant, meaningful, and unforgettable.

And when we do, we not only change the way students learn—we change the way they see themselves and their future.