Students who feel engaged, supported, and connected at school are more than five times as likely as their least-engaged peers to look forward to school every day or most days, concludes a recent report from Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation.
Those students are also more likely to feel like they’re thriving and be optimistic and prepared for the future, according to the report.
However, many students are disengaged, said Zach Hrynowski, a senior education researcher for Gallup, in an interview. There’s still a lot of work to be done to bridge the gap between the experiences students should have in school and their actual experiences, he said.
Across 12 measures of classroom engagement, adult support, and sense of belonging, the average student reported experiencing about eight, according to the report, which draws from a nationally representative sample of more than 1,700 middle and high school students conducted by Gallup between May and June.
The 12 measures include whether students feel that schools:
- Make them feel their schoolwork is important;
- Create schoolwork that challenges them in a good way;
- Help them learn something interesting;
- Give them opportunities to do what they do best every day at school;
- Make sure there is an adult at school who encourages them to pursue their goals and dreams;
- Have at least one teacher who makes them feel excited about the future;
- Ensure there is an adult at school who checks in with them to see how they’re doing;
- Have an adult at school who recognizes their talents and interests;
- Make sure there is an adult at school who helps them think about what kind of job they might be good at;
- Help them feel comfortable asking questions;
- Make them feel like they belong; and
- Help them feel like school is the perfect place for students like them.
Some people just take it as a fact that some kids are not engaged in school and that’s just the way it is, but the biggest takeaway for educators from this report should be that “this is not a fait accompli,” Hrynowski said.
“Every child is capable of being engaged at school,” he said. “The question is: What do we need to do to get more of these kids engaged?”
The report comes as districts face student-enrollment declines, chronic absenteeism, staffing shortages, and budget shortfalls.
Many students are disengaged from school
Overall, less than half of students (48%) look forward to going to school every day or most days, the Gallup/Walton report found. That finding is true across grade levels and genders, but students of color are more likely than their white peers to look forward to school all or most days, according to the report. (Coverage of teaching, curriculum and instruction, and other key issues is supported in part by a grant from the Walton Family Foundation. Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of this coverage.)
When it comes to classroom engagement, a little more than half of students report having engaging experiences at school. The report found:
- 63% of students agree or strongly agree that their teachers make them feel their schoolwork is important;
- 60% said their schoolwork challenges them in a good way;
- 59% said they’ve learned something interesting at school in the past week; and
- 51% said they get to do what they do best every day at school.
Several of these measures have improved since 2023, according to the report.
- Students today are 14 percentage points more likely than students were in 2023 to agree or strongly agree that school gives them the opportunity to do what they do best every day.
- They are 10 percentage points more likely to feel appropriately challenged by their schoolwork.
- And they are 6 percentage points more likely to say their teachers communicate the importance of what they are learning.
Engaging students ‘starts with the teacher’
Some students reported a lack of sense of belonging and relationships with trusted adults in their school buildings, the report found. For instance, about 33% of students did not agree that there is a teacher or other adult at school who regularly checks in to see how they are doing, and about 45% of students did not agree that their school is the perfect place for students like them.
“I think the data is really asking us to look beyond, ‘Are students learning?’ and also ask, ‘How do students feel while they are learning?’” said Amber Tos, an assistant principal at P.S. DuPont Middle School in Wilmington, Del.
The findings show a need to invest in teacher-student relationships.
The formula for engaging students is “really simple,” Hrynowski said. “It starts with the teacher.”
When students are engaged in the classroom and excited about what they’re learning, it’s often because the teacher is excited about what they’re teaching and the teacher is connecting with students, he said.
Less than half of students said that most or all the teachers they took classes with last year were excited about what they were teaching (44%) or made what they taught interesting (37%), the report found. About a third said that most of their teachers explained how what they were teaching could be used in the real world, and less than a quarter talked about future job and career options.
“Teachers make or break a school,” said Addison Yannetta, the president of the National Student Council and a senior at Bishop Fenwick High School in Franklin, Ohio. “They’re the ones who are in the classroom with you. If a teacher isn’t engaging and understanding and willing to work with you if you have problems, that makes or breaks [your experience].”
School leaders need to “create the conditions for teachers to build those relationships,” Tos said. “That means protecting time for collaboration, giving teachers opportunities to know their students beyond academics, supporting teachers in their professional growth, and making sure adults themselves feel valued and supported.”
Peer relationships have a big influence on student engagement
Peer relationships also affect student engagement, Addison said. Middle and high school life can be full of drama and cliques, she said.
“I feel like in our world, you have to be popular to fit in, or be in this group of friends, or ‘I don’t know you, so I’m not gonna be a partner with you,’ and that’s gotten worse since I was younger,” she said.
Beyond investing in teachers and staffing, schools should ensure they have a variety of classes and extracurricular activities that interest students and help them build connections with each other, teens said.
Dante Tapia, the vice president of membership for the National Student Council and a senior at Rock Hill High School in Frisco, Texas, said what keeps him engaged in school are the student-led classes he takes, such as retail management, where students run a school store, and student leadership.
“When high schools are adapting to students’ needs, students get more engaged,” Dante said.
Schools need to make sure they’re not so focused on compliance that “we lose the joy of learning,” Tos said. “Students need structure and accountability, absolutely. But they also need opportunities to lead, to make decisions, to take risks, to fail safely, and to discover what they are good at.”
The challenge is that schools have to juggle so many competing demands, Tos said.
“We are trying to meet academic needs, social-emotional needs, behavioral needs, attendance concerns, technology challenges, and the individual needs of an incredibly diverse group of learners—all while navigating larger issues that students bring with them into the building every day,” she said.
Creating an environment where students are engaged and feel like they belong is “something we have to keep working on, listening to students, looking at the data, and asking ourselves how we can make the experience better for every child,” Tos said.
