About half of students do not feel that what they learn in school will help them outside the classroom, according to a new survey.

Our nation’s schools are under a lot of pressure with academic testing and standards, they are operating with fewer resources than they deserve, so there is a lot of pressure and not as much room for creativity as ideally there should be.

Just 54 percent of middle schoolers and 46 percent of high schoolers think their studies are relevant, according to new data from the nonprofit YouthTruth. Relevance was rated lowest on the survey of various measures of student engagement: if students take pride in their work, if they enjoy going to school, if their schoolwork is relevant, if they try to do their best, and if their teachers’ expectations help them with that goal.

If schools could show students how their learning applies in the real world, this would be a big boost to engagement numbers, Wilka said.

Read the full article on school relevancy by Kate Stringer at The 74