["Sociological Forum, Volume 36, Issue 1, Page 248-270, March 2021. ", "\nSchool engagement predicts academic achievement and attainment, yet remains under‐theorized in the sociological literature. While psychologists describe three distinct yet mutually reinforcing categories of school engagement (behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement), sociologists have largely neglected to analyze cognitive engagement. Drawing on ethnographic observations and interviews with members of two debate teams in Chicago Public Schools, I demonstrate that behavioral engagement in the form of debate team participation helped foster debaters' cognitive and emotional engagement in school. Through the activity, debaters developed strong relationships with peers and their adult coaches, and strengthened their appreciation for challenging aspects of the learning process. Although many debaters felt that the learning environment of the debate context was more stimulating than the learning environments of their classes, they nevertheless applied the skills and attitudes they acquired in the activity to the “core” curriculum of the school. These factors help explain why debaters have been shown to outperform comparable peers in terms of academic achievement and attainment. These findings suggest that cognitive engagement is one mechanism driving the positive impact of certain extracurricular activities on students' school performance.\n"]