What do we mean by student connectedness?

Student connectedness, also called school connectedness, reflects students’ belief that peers and adults in the school support, value and care about their well-being and academic growth. It is an important protective factor that promotes the health and well-being of all students.

Researchers have identified four specific factors that contribute to feelings of school connectedness. Students are connected to schools when they:

• believe there is an adult at school who knows and cares about them,
• have a supportive peer group,
• engage, at least some of the time, in activities they find meaningful and which help others, and
• feel seen, heard and welcome in school.

Activities such as adult and peer mentoring, service learning opportunities, student-led clubs, student advisories and efforts to amplify student voice that take place during the school day, after-school or summer learning programs can promote connectedness. States can encourage these activities to enhance student connectedness at the local level through policies and guidance for districts and schools.

Paying attention to student connectedness may be especially important when students and families are transitioning into a new school, for example, going into elementary, middle or high school or moving to a new community.

Why does it matter for attendance?

When students believe that peers and adults care about them and accept them for who they are, they are more likely to feel motivated to show up every day. Students are also more likely to attend and engage in school if they believe their presence makes a difference and contributes to the well-being of other students.

Student connectedness is an effective, whole school prevention strategy that does not require extensive training and easily builds upon activities already underway in school. It is a modest lift, potentially high-impact strategy.

What is the evidence that positive student connectedness improves attendance?

Analysis of the national Youth Risk Behavior Survey has found that students who feel connected to school are less likely to engage in risky behaviors or experience poor mental health and bullying that make showing up to school less likely. While it would be helpful to have more evidence of a direct connection between attendance and the four school connectedness factors (caring adults, peer connections, prosocial activities and a sense of belonging), current research shows a positive relationship with school attendance.

• A 2013 study conducted in New York City found that pairing chronically absent students with a success mentor (an adult or peer who checked in three to five times a week) improved attendance by nine days.
• Multiyear research by The Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University shows that more time spent with a student success coach, essentially an adult who helps with connectedness is associated with improvements in attendance, academic and social and emotional outcomes.
• Familiar Faces In High School, a study published in 2022, found that the presence of consistent classmates from one year to the next is associated with reduced chronic absence and truancy.
• Numerous studies show that students attending expanded learning programs have better attendance. After-school programs are especially well positioned to connect students to peers, adults, engaging activities as well as create a sense of belonging.
• An analysis by Panorama of data from 7,000 schools and 11 million students found that positive school conditions significantly lowered chronic absence. For elementary and middle school, feeling safe at school was especially critical. Among high school students, students with social awareness (essentially, the ability to understand the perspective of others), supportive relationships, and the ability to set goals, plan and manage time are least likely to be chronically absent.

Should student connectedness be a major route to reducing chronic absence in your state?

In order to determine whether student connectedness should be a major strategy for reducing chronic absence in your state, consider these questions:

• What are the current levels of student connectedness based on qualitative and quantitative data?
  • Does your state or districts in your state conduct surveys of health, well-being and school climate that capture information about connections to a caring adult and peers, engagement in school and sense of belonging? For example, California administers School Climate Health and Learning Surveys. The companion interactive dashboards (one for the public, one for districts) support examining results by student groups and local educational agencies. Panorama offers free student surveys; some of your districts may already be using them. The national Youth Risk Behavior Survey can also be used to examine whether bullying or students feeling unsafe at school are challenges. The non-profit Youth Truth is another resource offering support with surveys. Ideally, surveys are research validated and results can be compared over time, by student groups and grade as well as against national norms.
  • To what extent do districts and schools in your state intentionally use tools and strategies to promote relationships between adults and students? Do they, for example, engage in relationship mapping? This Relationship Mapping tool enables schools to visually see who is connected to who, in line with academic, behavior and attendance.
  • What is the availability of resources (arts, enrichment, sports, peer to peer programming, student leadership, expanded learning, etc.) in your state? Such activities can support social engagement. Are these resources available to all students? Do schools or districts assess whether students with high levels of absenteeism are engaged in at least one extracurricular activity? Are there gaps in access, perhaps as a result of where programs are located or a lack of access to transportation? Do you know if these resources are high quality and include attention to positive relationship building? Are schools encouraged to create opportunities for students to influence the choice or development of enrichment activities?
• What assets can you build upon?
  • Who are the champions (agencies, organizations, individuals, etc.) that can advance student connectedness at the state or local levels? Are there key state or local policymakers or agencies, non-profit leaders or groups, school leaders, philanthropists, celebrities or others who recognize the importance of student connectedness and are willing to advocate for strategic investments? For example, student engagement is a top priority in the Colorado Department of Education’s strategic plan; the state commissioner of education and her top leadership discuss its importance and advocate for devoting resources to ensure it happens.
  • What funding could be leveraged to ensure student connectedness? Consider leveraging federal, state or even local funding available to support activities such as expanded learning, youth development, community schools, youth leadership, intensive tutoring and career pathways with faculty advisors, as well as enrichment and sports programming.
  • Are there existing initiatives designed to create opportunities for student voice and connection? Find out if there are already local or state efforts aimed at ensuring students have opportunities to connect with each other, inform programming and help shape decision-making. This can be done through student leadership activities, student advisories or even enabling students to have more choice and voice in the nature of after-school programs. Ideally these opportunities for students happen as an integral part of the school day or expanded learning program.
  • Are there bright spot schools or exemplary programs that demonstrate effective approaches to student connectedness? Consider using state data to identify particular schools, districts or particular types of programming, such as youth development, expanded learning programs, career technical education or intensive tutoring that have comparatively better attendance as a result of employing strategies that promote student connectedness.
  • Does or could your state offer professional development or tools that help districts and schools promote student connectedness? Examine whether your state or regional agencies or statewide organizations (such as school administrator associations or regional support groups) offer–or could offer–professional development on student connectedness.

    Statewide or regional agencies also can offer districts recommended surveys, organize the analysis of the survey data across districts to identify statewide trends, and create opportunities for districts to share with one another their challenges, successes and progress responding to survey results.

How do your policies support student connectedness?

• Are there sample policies or practices that increase student connectedness? There is a wide variety of policies states can adopt to support districts in creating opportunities for students to develop a sense of school connectedness. For example, state policy could require establishing student advisories in all secondary schools, or offering students credit for mentoring or youth leadership activities. State policy can establish guidance on expanding access to high quality after-school/expanded learning programs, youth-run programming. States can encourage local investments in restorative justice or programs that provide professional development on student connectedness. They can also cover time for school staff and other public employees to engage in student mentoring, or provide assistance for students who must navigate a return to the classroom after extended absences.
• Are there counterproductive policies that should be eliminated because they diminish student connectedness? A number of policies work against student engagement and connectedness. These include suspending students for truancy or prohibiting youth-led extracurricular activities. States can encourage localities to review and update policies that create barriers to participation in extracurricular activities, including sports, including charging a fee. Often students who need to participate in extracurricular programs the most in order to be more engaged and connected to school either can't afford the cost or are excluded because of low school attendance or low grades.