In K–12, we’ve often treated student experience data as a “nice to have.” As we confront another disappointing set of NAEP scores, a growing evidence base suggests that understanding how students experience school (whether they find it challenging, engaging, relevant, welcoming, and more) is critical to addressing and improving students’ academic and behavioral outcomes.
A new report analyzing the experiences of more than 70,000 students nationwide found that students who report higher quality learning experiences perform better on key learning and behavioral outcomes. On average, these students have GPAs that are almost 15 percent higher and test scores that are 27 percent higher on state standardized high school end-of-course algebra and geometry exams. They also have 17 percent fewer disciplinary incidents, 34 percent fewer in-school suspensions, and a 25 percent lower chronic absenteeism rate.
Student experience data isn’t just useful for boosting test scores. It also provides invaluable insights into how schools must evolve to meet the needs of today’s learners and prepare them for the future of work and life. In a world rapidly transformed by AI, the skills, knowledge, and mindsets students need to thrive are shifting fast, and the way in which they learn must be modernized. To prepare all young people for the future of work and life, schools must become more responsive, relevant, and engaging.
Students know this firsthand. Many say school feels irrelevant, boring, and offers few opportunities to take charge of their learning. Just 38 percent of students report getting to learn about things they’re interested in, and only 45 percent say they love school most of the time. When students don’t see clear connections between their classroom learning and life beyond school, they’re at greater risk of disengaging from schools, as well as from other systems.
Students’ dissatisfaction with school increases as they near the point when learning should feel most relevant to their future. Middle and high school students are particularly dissatisfied with their school experiences compared to elementary school students. 73 percent of students in grade 3 report that they love school, but this drops to just 29 percent by grade 11. This pattern holds true for how much students feel like they’re learning: 86 percent of students in grade 3 report that they learn a lot in school, compared to just over half of high school students.
But students’ experiences don’t just point to what’s broken; they show us what’s possible when we deeply listen to young people and design engaging, effective learning that prepares them for their next steps. Schools where students have more positive experiences often look different by design. Instead of following traditional models, they treat students as partners by gathering feedback, identifying what’s working, and making changes to better engage and prepare learners.
For example, one Massachusetts middle school used a student experience survey as part of a pilot to improve student experiences. The school was able to cut chronic absenteeism in half, from 28 percent to 12 percent. And in Texas, Shields Elementary School used a student experience survey to create relevant and customized learning that nurtures the whole child, leading to 80 percent of Shields students reporting that their learning is customized, an increase in reading proficiency from 26 percent to 62 percent, and a jump from a D to a B in Texas’s school performance framework. Creating a school culture that listens to students, centers their experiences, and adapts in response is essential to helping them feel excited to learn today and prepared for success tomorrow.
So where do we start?
A new generation of student listening surveys is making it possible to quickly and reliably gauge how students are experiencing school. Students certainly can’t give us all the answers about what learning is most relevant for their futures, but they can give us a good idea of where change is needed and how we might redesign learning to be more engaging.
Listening to students can provide real-time impact data that predicts long-term outcomes, and this information can help schools redesign learning faster and more effectively. As the world of work, knowledge, and technology evolves, these listening surveys help educators quickly understand whether instruction is resonating with students and adjust in real time.
Districts across the country are using listening tools from organizations like PERTS, NewSchools’ EDSS, Panorama, 5Essentials, and Gallup to better understand student experience, including their perceptions of teaching and learning. At Transcend, an organization I support that works with communities to create locally-led and learner-centered visions for education, our Leaps Student Voice Survey helps shed light on what is and isn’t working in school, as well as what needs to change.
Regardless of which tool you use, what matters most is using student experience feedback to improve how school feels and functions for students. When we do that, students do better academically, behaviorally, and emotionally. This feedback can come from regular, school-wide surveys, but it doesn’t have to. Schools can start by hosting focus groups and shadow-a-student days to better understand what students are going through. Classroom teachers can issue exit tickets to assess how individual lessons went. Educators already have a full plate, and student listening doesn’t need to be “one more thing” to add on.
Building student voice into the daily rhythm of teaching—even in small ways—can spark meaningful change. These everyday strategies show how student voice can shape teaching and learning in the moment. At the system level, the same principle applies: School leaders need timely feedback to keep up with rapid change.
Today, the world is transforming at a pace that outstrips how quickly traditional outcomes data can inform educators about student performance. It can take months or years for interventions by a school or district to influence standardized assessment scores. Why wait that long to test impact when student experience data can provide near immediate data that is significantly related to those long-term outcomes?
Students’ experiences aren’t just important because of their relationship to important educational outcomes and success later in life. They are also essential in their own right; all humans deserve to be in environments that are exciting, engaging, and effective. When we are doing our best work as educators, students feel that school is a place that affirms their sense of belonging, connects with them through positive relationships, and engages them in learning that is meaningful to them.
It isn’t easy to get this right, but we have more resources today than ever before. By using new listening tools, we can create schools where students feel joy in learning, achieve meaningful academic outcomes, and are inspired to strive, connect, explore, and imagine what’s possible for their lives and for the world.
