Voices of New Hampshire Students
Career-Connected Learning’s Rolein Building Bright Futures

This study is made possible thanks in part to support fromthe Barr Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education.

C O P Y R I G H T S TA N D A R D SThis document contains proprietary research, copyrighted and trademarked materials of Gallup, Inc.
Accordingly, international and domestic laws and penalties guaranteeing patent, copyright,
trademark and trade secret protection safeguard the ideas, concepts and recommendations
related within this document.
The materials contained in this document and/or the document itself may be downloaded and/or
copied provided that all copies retain the copyright, trademark and any other proprietary notices
contained on the materials and/or document. No changes may be made to this document without
the express written permission of Gallup, Inc.

Any reference whatsoever to this document, in whole or in part, on any webpage must provide a linkback to the original document in its entirety. Except as expressly provided herein, the transmissionof this material shall not be construed to grant a license of any type under any patents, copyright ortrademarks owned or controlled by Gallup, Inc.
Gallup® is a trademark of Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved. All other trademarks and copyrights areproperty of their respective owners.

Voices of New Hampshire Students | Career-Connected Learning’s Role in Building Bright Futures﻿

Table of Contents
2

Introduction

3

Key Findings

4

The State of Career-Connected Learning in New Hampshire

12

Career-Connected Learning Has an Impact … and Students Want More

14

Community Connection Matters

16

Opportunities to Empower Students for Their Future

17

Methodology Statement

1

Copyright © 2024 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.
VoiceNHstdnts_NHLI_090924_hs

Voices of New Hampshire Students | Career-Connected Learning’s Role in Building Bright Futures﻿

Introduction
In 2022, the U.S. Department of Education launched a new initiative to support
career‑connected learning by expanding student access to high-quality training
programs in today’s in-demand fields. Career-connected learning (CCL) broadens thepool of people who can access good jobs and careers by providing all students withskills‑based learning, training pathways and work experience.
New Hampshire and several other states have embraced CCL as an educational
strategy to better prepare students for the workforce and life beyond high school.
As a national leader in educational innovation, New Hampshire Learning Initiative(NHLI) has championed CCL as it aims to provide all students with opportunities tosucceed in college, their career and life.
NHLI recognizes that students flourish when given agency over their own learning andunderstands the importance of listening to student voices. In 2023, NHLI and Gallup
surveyed the opinions of New Hampshire middle school and high school students andmeasured their opinions on career-connected learning, engagement and hope. The 2024
Voices of New Hampshire Students: Career-Connected Learning’s Role in Building Bright
Futures report expands on insights released in 2023 by providing an update on the state of
CCL among New Hampshire students, further amplifying student voices.
This survey of more than 8,500 fifth through 12th grade students from 25 schools and
13 districts throughout the state of New Hampshire1 shows that career-connected learning
has an impact, and students want more of it.

1

NHLI invited schools and districts they had existing partnerships with to participate in the study, and schools were given
the opportunity to opt in.

2

Copyright © 2024 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.
VoiceNHstdnts_NHLI_090924_hs

Voices of New Hampshire Students | Career-Connected Learning’s Role in Building Bright Futures﻿

Key Findings

1

Students Say Career-Connected Learning Has an Impact.
Key objectives of CCL include helping students explore different careers, raise theirawareness of various postsecondary opportunities and gain career experience.
About half of students who participated in the study indicate that CCL has improved
their career awareness. More than four in 10 middle school (42%) and high school(47%) students report that they learned about a job or career they had not heard of
before while at school this past year. Additionally, one in three students (34%) say
CCL experiences have informed their plans after high school.

2

Community Connection Makes a Difference.
CCL opportunities can include content taught in core classes and electives, career
fairs, job shadows, internships and volunteering.
Students who participated in activities that allowed them to engage with thecommunity outside of school walls are more likely to agree that CCL opportunities,
in general, have informed what they plan to do after high school. For example,
57% of students who participated in an internship/externship, 54% of those who
participated in a registered apprenticeship, 51% who had a volunteer position
related to a job or career, and 51% who participated in job shadowing say their CCL
activities have informed their plans after high school.

3

Mentors Matter for Engagement and Hope.
In the context of this study, engagement refers to students’ level of “involvement inand enthusiasm for school.” Gallup uses a nine-item index to classify students as
engaged, not engaged or actively disengaged. Students who report having a mentor
who supports their development are more likely to be engaged than their peers(36% vs. 16%).
Gallup defines hope as “the ideas and energy students have for the future” and uses
a seven-item index to classify students as hopeful, stuck or discouraged. Students
with mentors are more likely to be hopeful about their futures than their peers(39% vs. 24%).

4Students Want More Career-Connected Learning.
A vast majority of students (90%) have participated in at least one CCL activity, and
59% report wanting to participate in more.
Students also seek greater variety in CCL offerigs: Just under half of high school
students (48%) and 25% of middle school students report that their school’s CCL
offerings include the types of jobs and careers they are interested in.
3

Copyright © 2024 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.
VoiceNHstdnts_NHLI_090924_hs

Voices of New Hampshire Students | Career-Connected Learning’s Role in Building Bright Futures﻿

The State of Career-Connected Learning in
New Hampshire
2024 CCL Participation

Similar to the results of the 2023 NHLI-Gallup study, 90% of students in 2024 reporthaving participated in at least one career-connected learning activity through their school.
More specifically, 54% of students have participated in 1-4 CCL activities, and 31% haveparticipated in 5-9, while a small segment (5%) have participated in 10 or more.
The most common CCL activity is learning about a job or career in class (58% of students
report doing this), followed by participating in a career fair (40%). Participation rates byactivity remained largely the same between 2023 and 2024.
CHART 1

Participation Rate by CCL Activity% Participated in 2023

% Participated in 2024

4

Copyright © 2024 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.
VoiceNHstdnts_NHLI_090924_hs

Voices of New Hampshire Students | Career-Connected Learning’s Role in Building Bright Futures﻿

CCL activity participation rates vary by grade. For example, ninth through 12th gradestudents are more likely to have participated in a career fair, taken a career interest
assessment and participated in career and technical education (CTE) than those in grades
five through eight. Across all grade levels, learning about a job or career in class has thehighest participation rates, while registered apprenticeships and internships/externships
are among the activities with the lowest participation rates.
CHART 2

Participation Rate by CCL Activity and Grade% 5th-6th Grade% 7th-8th Grade% 9th-10th Grade% 11th-12th Grade5

Copyright © 2024 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.
VoiceNHstdnts_NHLI_090924_hs

Voices of New Hampshire Students | Career-Connected Learning’s Role in Building Bright Futures﻿

High-impact CCL opportunities have the lowest participation rates.

Five CCL opportunities stand out as being most highly correlated with a student’s
likelihood to say CCL impacted their post-high-school plans: having an internship or
externship, a registered apprenticeship, volunteering related to a job or career, job
shadowing and extended learning opportunities. However, these five activities also havethe lowest overall participation rates. Education stakeholders in New Hampshire may wish
to further study these types of CCL opportunities to determine which aspects make themsuccessful and why they garner low participation. As these high-impact opportunities areoutside the classroom, the finding also highlights the need to further explore avenues that
support students in connecting and engaging with their communities.
CHART 3

Impact of Particpating in a CCL Activity on Post-High-School Plans

6

Copyright © 2024 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.
VoiceNHstdnts_NHLI_090924_hs

Voices of New Hampshire Students | Career-Connected Learning’s Role in Building Bright Futures﻿

Students’ Opinions of Their School’s CCL Quality
Nearly six in 10 students want to participate in more CCL activities.

Fifty-nine percent of students indicate they would like to participate in more
career‑connected learning opportunities at their school, including 52% of middle
schoolers and 64% of high schoolers.
CCL opportunities appear to be more common in high schools than in middle schools, ashigh schoolers are more likely to agree that their school offers “many” CCL opportunities,
even after controlling for grades earned in school. Nearly three in four high school students(73%) agree that their school offers many CCL opportunities, compared to only 34% of
middle school students. This finding highlights an opportunity to listen to middle school
students to better understand their needs around CCL.
The job content of a CCL activity matters.

The types of jobs or careers included in CCL offerings could be crucial to making the
program valuable to students and engaging those who have not participated in a CCL
activity. Although many students are already participating in CCL and say they wantmore, only 38% (48% of high school students and 25% of middle school students) say
their school’s CCL includes the types of jobs and careers they are interested in. Among
those who have not participated in a CCL opportunity, only 12% say their school’s CCL
opportunities include the types of jobs and careers they’re interested in. Even so, nearly
half (48%) of students who have not participated in a CCL opportunity indicate that theywould like to participate in more CCL opportunities, demonstrating that even uninvolved
students are looking to further engage with CCL.

7

Copyright © 2024 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.
VoiceNHstdnts_NHLI_090924_hs

Voices of New Hampshire Students | Career-Connected Learning’s Role in Building Bright Futures﻿

Engagement and Hope: Outcomes of CCL

What students say about CCL opportunities aligns with additional outcome measures,
including the Engagement and Hope Indexes measured in this study. The Engagement
Index measures the degree to which students are involved in and enthusiastic aboutschool; the Hope Index quantifies the ideas and energy students have for the future.
Past research2 has shown that hope and engagement are positively related to student
academic achievement and progress, as well as overall success for districts and schools.
New Hampshire student engagement scores remained consistent between 2023 and2024, with one in four students classified as “engaged.”
E NGAGE ME NT
CHART 4Engagement Index% Engaged

Fifth and sixth grade students are two times more likely to be engaged than those in thefirst two years of high school. Engagement declines steadily from middle school throughgrades nine and 10, when a slight improvement in engagement is observed in the last two
years of high school.
CHART 5Engagement by Grade% Engaged

2

Reckmeyer, M. (2019, October 30). Focus on student engagement for better academic outcomes. Gallup.com.
https://www.gallup.com/education/267521/focus-student-engagement-better-academic-outcomes.aspx

8

Copyright © 2024 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.
VoiceNHstdnts_NHLI_090924_hs

Voices of New Hampshire Students | Career-Connected Learning’s Role in Building Bright Futures﻿

HOPE
Hope Index scores have also remained consistent between 2023 and 2024, with nearly
one in three students (31%) classified as “hopeful.”
CHART 6

Hope Index% HopefulStudents in grades 11-12 are more likely to be hopeful than those in grades fivethrough 10.
CHART 7

Hopefulness by Grade% Hopeful9

Copyright © 2024 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.
VoiceNHstdnts_NHLI_090924_hs

Voices of New Hampshire Students | Career-Connected Learning’s Role in Building Bright Futures﻿

Relationship Between Engagement, Hope andCareer‑Connected Learning
How is career-connected learning connected to hope and engagement?
Respondents who participate in at least one CCL opportunity are more likely to beengaged. This finding holds when controlling for grade level and grades received
and is consistent with 2023 data, further validating the previous year’s findings.

CHART 8Engagement by CCL Participation% Engaged

As expected, greater participation in CCL activities is associated with greater levelsof engagement.
CHART 9Engagement by Number of CCL Activities Participated In% Engaged

10

Copyright © 2024 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.
VoiceNHstdnts_NHLI_090924_hs

Voices of New Hampshire Students | Career-Connected Learning’s Role in Building Bright Futures﻿

Respondents who participate in career-connected learning are more likely to be hopefulabout their futures. This finding holds when controlling for grade level and grades received.
C H A R T 10

Hopefulness by CCL Participation% Hopeful

Beyond CCL participation, there is a link between students’ opinions
about CCL opportunities and hopefulness.
Close to half (44%) of all students say their experiences at school make them feel like manydifferent types of jobs could be a good fit for them. Forty‑one percent of students who
agree with this statement are hopeful about their future, compared to only 23% of those
who do not agree.
Additionally, 43% of students who have been highly impacted by CCL — i.e., agree that
CCL opportunities have informed what they plan to do after high school — are hopefulabout their future, compared to 24% of those who strongly disagree, disagree or neither
agree nor disagree.
Forty percent of students who indicate that CCL opportunities include the activities
they are interested in are hopeful, compared to 25% of those who disagree. This finding
highlights the importance of listening to students and better understanding what they arelooking for in CCL opportunities.

11

Copyright © 2024 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.
VoiceNHstdnts_NHLI_090924_hs

Voices of New Hampshire Students | Career-Connected Learning’s Role in Building Bright Futures﻿

Career-Connected Learning Has an Impact …
and Students Want More
Students Say CCL Makes a Difference

A critical goal of CCL is to help students build career awareness, and about half of students
indicate that this objective is being met. Forty-two percent of middle school students and
47% of high school students say they learned about a job or career they had not heardof before while at school this year. As students expand their awareness of various career
paths, they perceive more possibilities available to them for their futures: 39% of middle
schoolers and 48% of high schoolers agree that their experiences at school make themfeel like many different types of jobs could be a good fit for them.
High-Impact CCL Opportunities Include Mentors, Quantity andCommunity Engagement.

One measure of a CCL opportunity’s impact is its influence on a student’s plans after highschool. Thirty-four percent of students report that CCL opportunities have informed what
they plan to do after high school, indicating that CCL opportunities have had a particularly
meaningful impact on their futures. This number is even higher among high schoolers, with
38% agreeing that a CCL opportunity has informed their post-high-school plans.

12

Copyright © 2024 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.
VoiceNHstdnts_NHLI_090924_hs

Voices of New Hampshire Students | Career-Connected Learning’s Role in Building Bright Futures﻿

What do we know about students in the high-impact group?

The high-impact group comprises students who agree or strongly agree with thestatement, “The CCL opportunities at my school have informed what I plan to do after
high school.”
Mentors matter. Fifty-eight percent of students in the high-impact group have amentor, compared to 34% of their peers who are not in the high-impact group.
CCL quantity is important. Sixty percent of the high-impact group haveparticipated in five or more CCL opportunities, compared to 26% of their peers.
Community engagement is key. Participating in any career-connected learning
activity impacts students, though activities that allow students to engage with thecommunity outside of school walls are more highly correlated with the high‑impact
group. Nearly six in 10 students (57%) who participated in an internship/externshipagree or strongly agree that CCL activities have informed their plans after highschool. Similarly, 54% of those who participated in a registered apprenticeship,
51% who volunteered related to a job or career, and 51% who participated in job
shadowing say the same.

C H A R T 11

Impact of CCL Activities on Post-High-School Plans% Of students who who strongly agree/agree participation in an activity informed their plans

13

Copyright © 2024 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.
VoiceNHstdnts_NHLI_090924_hs

Voices of New Hampshire Students | Career-Connected Learning’s Role in Building Bright Futures﻿

Community Connection Matters
Some activities are more highly correlated with students’ hopes for the future,
specifically activities that allow students to engage with community members
outside school walls. For instance, 38% of students who volunteered related to a
job or career, 39% of those who participated in an extended learning opportunity(ELO) and 40% who participated in an internship/externship were hopefulabout their futures, compared to only 29% of those who did not participate ineach activity.

Mentors

It is clear that community engagement impacts students’ optimism about the future. At thesame time, the logistical challenges of connecting students with community members canserve as a barrier to facilitating these types of activities for students. Outside of programs
that may require substantial coordination, such as ELOs and internships/externships,
mentorship is a powerful tool to help students meaningfully interact with the community.
Students who agree they have a mentor who supports their development are more likely to
be engaged than their peers who do not. This finding holds after controlling for grade leveland grades received.
C H A R T 12

Engagement by Mentorship% Engaged

14

Copyright © 2024 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.
VoiceNHstdnts_NHLI_090924_hs

Voices of New Hampshire Students | Career-Connected Learning’s Role in Building Bright Futures﻿

Mentorship is also strongly correlated with hope. Those who agree they have a mentor
who supports their development are more likely to be hopeful than their peers who do notagree. This holds after controlling for grade level and grades received.
C H A R T 13

Hopefulness by Mentorship% Hopeful

Who has a mentor?
• Thirty-nine percent of students in fifth through 10th grades agree they have a mentor
who supports their development, compared to 52% of students in grades 11 and 12.
• Thirty-four percent of students who report earning “average” or “poor” grades have amentor, compared to 47% of those who report earning “excellent” or “good” grades.

• Fifty-five percent of students who have participated in an internship or externship, ELO
or volunteered related to a job or career report having a mentor who supports theirdevelopment, compared to 39% of students who did not participate in these activities.

15

Copyright © 2024 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.
VoiceNHstdnts_NHLI_090924_hs

Voices of New Hampshire Students | Career-Connected Learning’s Role in Building Bright Futures﻿

Opportunities to Empower Students for
Their Future
The impact that career-connected learning has on students is evident. Many New Hampshire
schools and districts recognize this and are dedicated to advancing CCL programs, yet there
is an opportunity to further improve the effectiveness and reach of CCL activities. What canschools, districts and community members do to empower students for their futures?

1

Include a greater variety of CCL activities.

2

Create opportunities for community engagement.

3

Connect students to mentors.

Less than half of high school students (48%) and only a quarter of middle school
students report that the career activities at their school include the types of jobs andcareers they are interested in. Schools may want to work to better understand the typesof careers students want to explore and expand CCL options.

CCL activities that allow students to interact with the community and gain real-world
experience — including internships or externships, volunteering related to a job orcareer, job shadowing and extended learning opportunities — are more highly correlatedwith impacting students’ plans after high school. Fifty-seven percent of students who
participated in an internship/externship say CCL activities informed their plans after
high school, and slightly smaller majorities of those who participated in a registeredapprenticeship (54%), volunteered related to a job or career (51%) or participated in job
shadowing (51%) say the same. The portion of students who agree that CCL activities
generally informed their plans after high school is significantly higher among those
who participated in these activities than the 34% of students overall. Schools andcommunities can help empower students to feel more confident in their futures after
high school by working together to create opportunities for students to interact with thecommunity outside of school walls.

The study’s findings show that mentors matter for student engagement and hope:Students with a mentor are 20 percentage points more likely to be engaged and
15 points more likely to be hopeful about their futures. Schools can make a meaningful
difference in the lives of students by better understanding students’ relationships withmentors. When schools take the time to understand where students find mentors andwhat makes an effective mentor, they improve their chances of making mentorshipmore accessible to all students.

The most pressing action needed to improve CCL programming and, consequently,
student engagement and hope, is listening to students. This study captured the current
state of career-connected learning in New Hampshire, but it is only a starting point.
Schools and districts can leverage this data to gain a better understanding of student
needs by making time to listen, such as by creating student focus groups to discuss
the results of this study. Surveying or talking directly with students will allow schools tounderstand why students responded the way they did and learn what changes need to
be prioritized.
16

Copyright © 2024 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.
VoiceNHstdnts_NHLI_090924_hs

Voices of New Hampshire Students | Career-Connected Learning’s Role in Building Bright Futures﻿

Methodology Statement
Results for the Gallup-NHLI student poll are based on a web-based survey conductedfrom May 1 through June 7, 2024. The survey was available in English and Spanish andadministered to students during the school day. The sample comprises 8,634 middle
school and high school student respondents from 13 districts and 25 schools throughout
New Hampshire. NHLI invited schools and districts they had existing partnerships with toparticipate in the study, and schools were given the opportunity to opt in. The results fromthis survey represent the second year of a multiyear commitment to this study. The study
was designed in accordance with RSA 186:11, IX-d, New Hampshire’s policy governing
the administration of non-academic surveys or questionnaires, which includes all surveys,
questionnaires or other documents designed to elicit information about a student’s social
behavior, family life, religion, politics, sexual orientation, sexual activity, drug use or any
other information not related to a student’s academics. Additionally, the research protocol
and survey were reviewed by Gallup’s Institutional Review Board.

17

Copyright © 2024 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.
VoiceNHstdnts_NHLI_090924_hs