Transcend Releases Beyond Fine Report: Data from 70,000+ Students Reveals School Experiences Significantly Associated with Academic & Behavioral Outcomes

As AI reshapes the world and our schools, this report suggests student experiences surveys can provide real-time impact data that predicts long-term outcomes and can help schools redesign learning faster

Transcend, a national nonprofit that works with communities to create and spread extraordinary learning for all students, will release the report Beyond “Fine”: How Students Really Feel About School and Why It Matters (Sept. 10), analyzing more than 70,000 student responses to their validated Leaps Student Voice Survey. The survey data reveals that how students experience school is significantly associated with a range of important outcomes, including test scores, GPA, attendance, and disciplinary incidents. The report also affirms that students who report better school experiences achieve better outcomes, and that students at schools which regularly seek and incorporate student feedback into how they “do” school have more positive school experiences and outcomes than the norm. These findings highlight an immense opportunity for educators to use student experience data to provide near real-time impact data that is likely to correlate with long-term outcomes. 

At a time when rapid change driven by AI has left educators scrambling for ways to innovate learning, it is more important than ever before that we find faster, reliable ways to ensure students are actually thriving in school. The Beyond Fine report insights hold important implications for how listening tools can help schools create the experiences students need to meaningfully prepare them for the future of work and life.

“AI is rewriting the world we live in, but when you walk into most schools, it feels like time has stood still—rigid schedules, siloed subjects, and too little space for relevance or real-world connection,” said Aylon Samouha, CEO of Transcend. “Our Beyond Fine report makes clear that many young people feel stuck in learning experiences that don’t prepare them for what’s next. By truly understanding how students experience school and what matters to them, educators can spark deeper engagement and drive stronger academic and life outcomes.”

Beyond “Fine”: How Students Really Feel About School and Why It Matters finds that:

1. Students who report higher quality learning experiences perform better on key learning and behavioral outcomes. They have higher GPAs and test scores, better attendance, and fewer disciplinary incidents. Schools with better student experiences earn, on average, higher state accountability scores.
2. Most students report that they are not having great experiences in school. The majority say that school feels irrelevant, boring, and offers them few opportunities to take charge of their learning.
3. The longer students spend in school, the less they like it. Middle and high school students are particularly dissatisfied with their school experiences compared to elementary school students.
4. Innovative communities across the country are adopting new models that create extraordinary learning experiences. Many schools and districts with strong student experiences and outcomes feature design choices that differ from the “traditional” approach to school.

Because student experience data is highly responsive to changes in instruction and culture, listening tools like Transcend’s Leaps Survey allow educators to make decisions about data-driven improvement in ways that important, but lagging, outcomes cannot. While it can take months or years for interventions by a school or district to influence standardized assessment scores, the Beyond Fine report suggests that educators do not need to wait that long to test impact±or make informed changes to learning. 

The report also profiles a set of communities across the country providing students with more positive experiences than the norm. These successful learning environments often feature innovative design choices that differ from the “traditional” approach to school, arrived at through a continual process of sourcing student feedback (via surveys, focus groups, and “shadow a student” days), elevating what’s working and what needs to change to better engage and prepare students, and adapting education delivery in response. 

• In Massachusetts, a Salem middle school used the Leaps Survey as part of a pilot to improve student experiences and cut chronic absenteeism in half, from 28 percent to 12 percent. The absenteeism rate among the pilot cohort continued to fall this year to less than 10 percent, and the district has now expanded the pilot to more schools.

• In North Dakota, Northern Cass Middle School used the Leaps Survey and discovered that just 18 percent of middle-schoolers felt their school learning was relevant to the real world. In response, the school piloted six-week “Studios” that allowed students to choose from high-engagement experiences in subjects outside traditional school curriculum. Post-Studio, an astonishing 89 percent of middle schoolers felt their learning was relevant, and 71 percent felt they had control over their learning.
• More communities that use the Leaps Survey to create excellent, 21^st century learning environments are available here. 

“When schools truly listen to students and act on what they hear, engagement deepens—and students are more likely to thrive,” said Samouha. “Whenever we put students at the center, schools get stronger. Building student voice into the daily rhythm of teaching—even in small ways—can spark meaningful change.”

The findings in Beyond Fine contribute to an emerging research consensus: the quality of students’ learning experiences likely correlate to important educational outcomes and success later in life, especially in a world rapidly being transformed by AI. They are also essential in their own right; all humans deserve to be in environments that are exciting, engaging, and effective.

The interactive Beyond Fine report goes live on Transcend’s website on September 10th. To learn more today, read the Executive Summary or the Beyond Fine Research Brief.