This article explores the relationship between student engagement and student self-assessment. It reports on research that has reconceptualised ways of understanding levels of student engagement among primary school learners who live in poor communities. These ways of understanding have been influential in the development of a student self-assessment framework. This framework is presented in the article, as well as a description of its evolution and how it is used within classrooms involved in the research. (Contains 2 tables, 2 figures, and 7 notes.)