Study: Mental Health, Challenges Outside School Largest Barriers to K–12 Student Success

  • By Matt Jones
  • 04/26/24

A new report from global education institution McGraw Hill sheds some light on the relationship between challenges outside the classroom, like mental health and behavioral problems, with academic success in K–12 schools, according to a news release. The McGraw Hill Global Education Insights Report: Learning Outcomes & the Digital Classroom also explores the positive impact of technology and artificial intelligence (AI) on student success. The survey was conducted among more than 1,000 K–12 and higher-education educators across 19 countries.

In the results, 57% of respondents called challenges beyond school (such as family support) as the largest obstacle to student success. Other high-ranked obstacles included behavior struggles, mental health issues, and lack of foundational skills and knowledge. Educators polled also indicated concerns that AI in the classroom would negatively impact student skills like social skills, critical thinking, memory retention, academic integrity, and creativity.

However, 41% of respondents said they believe AI’s impact on student outcomes has been mostly positive, in contrast to the 19% who believe it has been mostly negative. The highest-indicated perceived benefits of AI were reported to be reducing time spent on administrative tasks (65%) and the personalization of learning experiences for individual students (63%).

“We must do all we can to ensure educators around the world feel supported at every level, so they can help students overcome these obstacles and succeed,” said McGraw Hill CEO Simon Allen. “It's understandable that educators would feel anxiety and uncertainty about the effects emerging technologies and AI have on their students. So it’s important that we look for opportunities where it can dispel this anxiety, where technology can save educators time and facilitate student-teacher engagement.”

Respondents reported concerns related to the negative effect of AI on facets like academic integrity (32%), critical thinking (31%), memory retention (30%), and relationships and social skills (29%).

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Stock market graphs and candlesticks breaking apart with glass-like cracks

    Chinese Startup Disrupts AI Market

    A new low-cost artificial intelligence model from China is wreaking havoc in the technology sector, with tech stocks plummeting globally as concerns grow over the potential disruption it could cause.

  • interconnected glowing nodes and circuits in blue and green, forming a neural network on a dark background with a futuristic design

    Tech Giants Launch $100 Billion National AI Infrastructure Project

    OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle have announced a new venture, Stargate, through which they aim to build a massive AI infrastructure network across the United States. The initiative, which was announced at the White House with President Donald Trump, has been described as the "largest AI infrastructure project in history."

  • glowing digital brain made of blue circuitry hovers above multiple stylized clouds of interconnected network nodes against a dark, futuristic background

    Report: 85% of Organizations Are Leveraging AI

    Eighty-five percent of organizations today are utilizing some form of AI, according to the latest State of AI in the Cloud 2025 report from Wiz. While AI's role in innovation and disruption continues to expand, security vulnerabilities and governance challenges remain pressing concerns.

  • laptop surrounded by floating digital books and cloud-based documents

    Mississippi Department of Education Approves Imagine Learning Resources for Statewide Adoption

    The Mississippi Department of Education has added Imagine Learning's Imagine IM and Traverse solutions to its list of state-adopted high-quality instructional materials.