NAIS Research: Trends in the 2023 High School Survey of Student Engagement (HSSSE)

By Grant Stringer
NAIS Research Analyst
January 2024

Executive Summary

2023 HSSSE TrendsFor the past several years, NAIS has partnered with the Center for Evaluation, Policy, & Research (CEPR) at Indiana University to offer the High School Survey of Student Engagement (HSSSE) and the Middle Grades Survey of Student Engagement (MGSSE) to independent schools interested in measuring student engagement.

The HSSSE (targeting grades 9 through 12) is a student-focused survey designed to measure the attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs of students about their schoolwork, the school learning environment, and their interactions with the school community. This year’s HSSSE surveyed 4,656 students from 22 schools across 11 U.S. states and territories. The majority of these student respondents—4,005 students or 86%—go to NAIS member schools. The data for student respondents at NAIS schools are compared to those for HSSSE public school participants where appropriate.

Student engagement is increasingly viewed as one of the keys to building a safe, positive, and creative school climate and culture that increase student achievement and decrease student boredom, alienation, and dropout rates. HSSSE and MGSSE data can be invaluable to schools in this effort. Unlike knowledge-based assessment instruments, the HSSSE and MGSSE provide student engagement data that showcase how schools instill 21st century skills in their students while providing a caring and safe environment that nurtures the whole child.

The HSSSE is divided into three dimensions of student engagement:
  • Dimension 1: Captures the endeavors, commitment, and methodologies employed by students in the pursuit of learning—encompassing the cognitive work and approach-to-work that students employ. This dimension can be characterized as “engagement of the mind.”
  • Dimension 2: Encompasses students’ participation in social, extracurricular, and nonacademic school undertakings, including their interactions with peers—illuminating the ways students engage within their school community. This dimension can be conceptualized as “engagement in the life of the school."
  • Dimension 3: Highlights students’ sense of affiliation (or lack thereof) with their school—focusing on their emotions regarding their place in school, the operations of the school, and the individuals within it. This dimension can be articulated as “engagement of the heart.”
This report provides a summary of the key results from the 2023 HSSSE across the three dimensions.

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