Students' Engagement and Academic Performance in Technology and Livelihood Education among Grade 9 Students of Sibugon Integrated School

Abstract This study examined the level of students’ engagement and its relationship with academic performance in Technology and Livelihood Education (TLE) among Grade 9 students of Sibugon Integrated School during School Year 2024-2025. A quantitative descriptive-correlational design was employed with 109 randomly selected Grade 9 learners. Data were gathered using an adapted School Engagement Measure covering behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement, while TLE academic performance was obtained from students’ subject grades. Descriptive statistics and Spearman’s rho correlation were used to analyze the data. Results showed that students had a high level of overall engagement (M = 3.68, SD = 0.74), with emotional engagement receiving the highest dimension mean (M = 3.82), followed by behavioral engagement (M = 3.73) and cognitive engagement (M = 3.47). Most students attained a satisfactory level of academic performance in TLE, with a mean grade of 83.60. Correlation results indicated that behavioral engagement (r = .23, p = .01) and cognitive engagement (r = .29, p = .01) were significantly associated with academic performance, whereas emotional engagement was not significant (r = .11, p = .06). The findings suggest that observable academic behaviors and cognitive learning strategies are more directly linked to TLE performance than affective responses alone. Strengthening class participation, assignment completion, goal-setting, critical thinking, and self-regulated learning strategies is recommended to improve students’ performance in TLE.