About HSSSE

The ultimate goal of HSSSE is to document, describe, and strengthen student engagement in educationally purposeful activities in secondary schools nationally. HSSSE provides information that can be used to generate discussions on teaching and learning and guide student improvement activities.

HSSSE is a powerful tool in the assessment arena that can complement performance tests. While the results from standardized performance tests are used to evaluate student (and therefore school) success, that data cannot pinpoint the specific educational processes that are linked to the outcomes the tests measure. HSSSE data can identify student engagement and school features that affect outcomes.

Our primary activity is to conduct an annual survey to assess the extent to which high school students engage in educational practices associated with high levels of learning and development. This data is especially powerful because it pertains to school features that teachers and administrators can improve upon quickly, and often inexpensively, to facilitate student learning and engagement. Please click here to see a sample of the survey.

Each participating school receives a customized report comparing responses of the individual school's students with all other HSSSE respondents along various dimensions. See "What schools will receive" for more details regarding deliverables.

HSSSE also contracts with schools and districts to provide professional development and technical assistance, helping teachers and administrators understand their data and make effective use of the information. These individualized sessions provide opportunities to examine the data, discuss the implications of the results for school and classroom practices, and generate effective strategies for engaging all students.

HSSSE is quickly becoming one of the largest databases on student engagement in the nation. HSSSE will use survey data in the aggregate for special reports. However, HSSSE will never use data to rank schools or distribute information without consent that identifies schools or school districts in any way.