Student engagement includes belonging, motivation, persistence, participation, and the conditions that make learning possible. Recent international and U.S. data show that many students feel connected and curious, while support, safety, attendance, and access to activities remain uneven.
Contents
- Belonging and connection
- Motivation and learning habits
- Teacher support and classroom climate
- Attendance and school programs
- Safety, connectedness, and barriers
- Equity and extracurricular participation
Belonging and connection
The OECD’s PISA 2025 results describe a generally positive, though not universal, picture of school belonging. Across OECD countries, 76% of students agreed that they feel they belong at school. A larger 83% agreed that other students seem to like them, and 80% agreed that they make friends easily at school. Meanwhile, 85% disagreed that they feel like an outsider at school. These measures cover students across OECD countries in 2025, so they are not U.S.-only estimates (Student attitudes towards learning: PISA 2025 Results (Volume I)).
The direction of change was also positive in many participating systems. Students’ sense of belonging increased between PISA 2022 and 2025 in 39 participating systems with comparable data. The share of students who did not feel lonely at school increased over the same period in 48 participating systems. These are counts of systems showing change, not a single OECD-wide percentage-point increase.
Belonging was associated with how students approached learning. In PISA 2025, 71% of students in the top belonging quarter said that school taught useful job skills, compared with 60% in the bottom belonging quarter. Likewise, 68% of students in the top belonging quarter reported applying extra effort when work became challenging, versus about 51% in the bottom quarter. The comparisons describe relationships between groups; they do not establish that belonging alone caused the learning behavior.
Motivation and learning habits
Interest in learning was common in PISA 2025. Across OECD countries, 69% of students said they like learning new things, 73% said they are curious about many different things, and 74% said they like to know how things work. Between PISA 2022 and 2025, the share disagreeing that learning new things is boring declined in 60 participating systems. Because the measure is reported as a change in the share disagreeing, it should not be read as a single percentage for all OECD students.
Persistence was less consistent than curiosity. In 2025, 61% of students across OECD countries said they finish what they start, 60% said they apply extra effort when work becomes challenging, and 52% said they finish tasks even when those tasks become boring. For study planning, only 37% said they often or very often plan their approach to learning. This gap suggests that liking learning and managing learning are related but distinct parts of engagement.
Students also reported reaching out for assistance. In PISA 2025, 77% said they ask for help when they have trouble learning, while 82% said they ask classmates for help when they do not understand something. For students building study routines, these figures highlight help-seeking and peer explanation as measurable engagement behaviors, alongside time spent studying.
Growth mindset responses varied by group. Across OECD countries, 70% of girls and 68% of boys reported a growth mindset. The difference was wider by socioeconomic advantage: 73% of advantaged students and 65% of disadvantaged students reported a growth mindset. These figures identify a gap in reported attitudes, not a difference in students’ fixed ability.
Teacher support and classroom climate
Support from teachers is another important part of the engagement environment. In PISA 2022, teacher support had deteriorated from 2012 to 2022 in half of participating countries and economies and on the OECD average. On the OECD average, the share of students reporting that teachers give extra help in most or every lesson fell by 3 percentage points from 2012.
In 2022, about 30% of students across OECD countries said teachers only sometimes, rarely, or never give extra help and help with learning. Almost 40% said teachers do not show interest in every student’s learning or continue until students understand in most lessons. These results point to the frequency and consistency of support, rather than simply whether a teacher is present.
Classroom conditions also affect participation. More than 20% of students across OECD countries said they cannot work well in most or all mathematics lessons. In addition, 25% said they become distracted by digital devices in every or most mathematics lessons. The data concern mathematics lessons and should not automatically be generalized to every class or subject.
The same PISA 2022 source reported that a one-unit increase in the teacher-support index was associated with a 5-point increase in mathematics performance on the OECD average. This is an association, not a guaranteed score gain for an individual student. In PISA 2025, the relationship between student motivation and agency was strengthened by high teacher support in 38 systems (Life at school and support from home: PISA 2022 Results (Volume II); Student attitudes towards learning: PISA 2025 Results (Volume I)).
Attendance and school programs
Attendance provides a practical participation measure. The National Center for Education Statistics estimated a 91% average daily attendance rate for U.S. public schools during the 2024–25 school year. In June 2025, 42% of U.S. public schools said student absences remained about the same as in the prior school year.
Schools also reported specific attendance barriers and responses. In June 2025, 70% of U.S. public schools said students missed too much school because they stayed home unnecessarily for minor symptoms. At the same time, 62% used a universal student-level screening tool to identify students at risk, and 73% gave incentives for students to improve attendance. These are school-reported percentages, not estimates of the share of all students receiving each intervention.
After-school academic opportunities reached a smaller share of students. In September 2024, 60% of U.S. public schools offered academically focused after-school programming, and an estimated 13% of U.S. public-school students participated. Among schools offering those programs, 42% could serve all students who needed or wanted them. The figures refer to the 2024–25 school year and distinguish program availability from student participation (School Pulse Panel - Interactive Results).
| Attendance or program measure | U.S. result | Measurement period |
|---|---|---|
| Average daily attendance | 91% | 2024–25 school year |
| Schools using student-level risk screening | 62% | June 2025 |
| Schools offering academically focused after-school programs | 60% | September 2024 |
| Students participating in those programs | 13% | September 2024 |
| Offering schools able to serve all who wanted or needed a place | 42% | September 2024 |
Safety, connectedness, and barriers
The CDC’s 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that 61.5% of U.S. high school students reported feeling connected to others at school. Connectedness varied by demographic group: it was reported by 65.5% of male students and 57.6% of female students, by 66.7% of Asian students and 53.9% of American Indian or Alaska Native students, and by 63.3% of students in grades 9–10 compared with 59.8% in grades 11–12.
Sexual-identity differences were also reported. School connectedness was reported by 65.1% of heterosexual students and 48.3% of students with questioning or other sexual identities. The survey also linked connectedness with selected risk and well-being measures: poor mental health was reported by 22.0% of connected students versus 40.1% of students who did not feel connected. Missing school because of feeling unsafe was reported by 5.9% of connected students versus 11.0% of students who did not feel connected.
These comparisons describe survey groups and associations. They should not be used to infer that connectedness alone determines mental health or attendance. Separately, in PISA 2022, about 10% of students across OECD countries disagreed or strongly disagreed that they feel safe outside their classroom (School Connectedness and Risk Behaviors and Experiences Among High School Students — Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2021; Life at school and support from home: PISA 2022 Results (Volume II)).
Equity and extracurricular participation
Extracurricular participation offers another indicator of connection beyond the classroom. Among U.S. youth ages 15–18 with an individualized education program (IEP), participation in a school or out-of-school club or sports team rose from 61% in 2003 to 74% in 2012. School-sponsored club or sports participation rose from 48% to 62%, while out-of-school club or sports participation rose from 38% to 54%.
Other activities also increased for this group. Any-club participation rose from 40% in 2003 to 63% in 2012, sports-team participation increased from 31% to 38%, volunteer-group participation rose from 2% to 29%, and fine-arts club or lesson participation rose from 10% to 26%.
Participation differed within the IEP population. In 2012, 75% of U.S. youth ages 15–18 with autism and an IEP participated in a school or out-of-school club or sports team. Among youth with emotional disturbance and an IEP, club or sports participation rose from 52% in 2003 to 72% in 2012. These figures come from the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2012 and cover 2003–2012 comparisons; they are legacy measures, not current participation estimates (Preparing for Life after High School: The Characteristics and Experiences of Youth in Special Education. Findings from the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2012. Volume 3: Comparisons Over Time (Full Report)).