Gallup surveyed nearly 500,000 students in grades five through 12 from more than 1,700 public schools in 37 states in 2012, and guess what – student engagement drops dramatically over time. In other words, the longer you are in school, the less you care about – or are likely to get anything out of – being in school.

The Gallup blog reports,

We found that nearly eight in 10 elementary students who participated in the poll are engaged with school. By middle school that falls to about six in 10 students. And by high school, only four in 10 students qualify as engaged. Our educational system sends students and our country’s future over the school cliff every year.

We’ve argued – and continue to argue – that “reform” is not enough to fix this situation – transformation is needed. I recommend reading the Gallup blog post for more details about the drop in student engagement represented by the “school cliff.” Also, see Gallup’s site for the Student Poll.

Jeff