Nearly half of teachers (46 percent) say student engagement has declined compared to 2019, according to a survey by The Harris Poll for Discovery Education, according to an Education Week article.
And most students, 83 percent, say there are not enough opportunities at school for them to be curious.
That’s a disconnect that all vendors in the K-12 space should be paying attention to, says Lisa Katz, vice president of research and analytics at Discovery Education.
Student interest in school wanes as they advance into upper grades, the survey found. Nearly half of high school students, 49 percent, say they are curious at school, compared to 76 percent of elementary schoolers.
And only about half of students, 57 percent, feel their school is preparing them with life skills, and roughly two-thirds believe their school is evolving to meet workplace needs. The findings reveal several approaches to boosting engagement:
- Three out of four students say self-paced learning would help them feel empowered in school and more prepared for the future; 93 percent of teachers say adaptive learning would help. Students’ desire for more autonomy can go hand in hand with sparking curiosity, Katz explains.
- Teachers and students want to use technology to help bridge the engagement gap. Most agree digital tools are essential for optimizing content for individual learning.
- Teachers listed adaptive learning content, and superintendents called for digital immersion and independent learning tools as a few of the top resources to meet individual instruction needs.
There is room for more innovation in K-12, and a hunger for the type of personalization that emerging generative AI technology can provide, Katz says.
“AI is really exciting,” she says. But “superintendents and teachers both told us that it’s not just about the innovation, and the benefits of those innovations. It’s also about preparing teachers to feel comfortable and have the support that they need to be able to use those innovations in the classroom.”
Education Week
