What did students have to say about their learning, sense of belonging, mental health, and support from adults during the 2022-23 school year? How did these elements of social, emotional, and academic development change over the course of the pandemic? And how did experiences in 2022-23 differ across student demographic groups?

FINDING 1: LEARNING AND BELONGING

Student perceptions of learning and belonging follow similar patterns over time. Learning and belonging fell in spring 2020, rose in fall 2020, and returned to pre-pandemic levels in spring 2021 – where they remained in 2022-23.

FINDING 2: TEACHER CONNECTION

After a temporary bump in spring 2020 relative to pre-pandemic, student perceptions of teacher connection declined over time to a new low in 2022-23, with less than a quarter of students reporting that their teachers understand their lives outside of school.

FINDING 3: MENTAL HEALTH

Even as students increasingly identified their own mental health as an obstacle to learning, the percentage reporting that they have an adult from school to talk to when having problems dropped during the pandemic and has not recovered as of 2022-23.