Each year, since 2009, thousands of students across the country have participated in the Gallup Student Poll. The survey asks students in grades 5 through 12 about their engagement with school, hope for the future, entrepreneurial aspiration, and career and financial literacy.

Key findings from Gallup’s 2016 poll:

1. Students who are engaged in school are 2.5 times more likely to get excellent grades and to do well in school overall, compared with their actively disengaged peers.
2. Engaged students are 4.5 times more likely to be hopeful about the future compared with disengaged students.
3. Elementary students are more engaged than middle school students, and engagement plummets to its lowest level in high school.
4. Only 28 percent of 11th graders say their teachers make them feel schoolwork is important.
5. Only one in three 11th graders say they learned something interesting in school during the week leading up to the poll.
6. Less than half of 11th graders have a teacher who makes them feel hopeful about the future.
7. Students’ entrepreneurial aspirations wane during high school.

The survey results, which predate COVID-related school closures, clearly show that disengagement is a serious problem for US high school students. Less than a third of 11th graders were engaged with school, compared with nearly three-quarters of 5th graders. Only one in four 11th graders said that adults at their school really care about them, compared with two out of three 5th graders.

Can we change this picture? Research shows that schools can help increase student engagement and resilience by encouraging strong relationships among students and by promoting positive connections between staff and students and between school and home. Students also gain from participating in clubs, organizations, and other groups, and from activities that allow them to cultivate a sense of competence and self-efficacy.

When young people have a voice in improving education, the result is stronger schools and more engaged students. When families and caregivers are involved, too, the impacts are even greater.