Center for Policy Research

Policy Brief

Student Alienation in Schools Goes Beyond Low Achievement

Sean J. Drake and Jeffrey Guhin

C.P.R. Policy Brief No. 23

November 2025

Sean J. Drake

Sociology Department

Center for Policy Research

United States

Sean J. Drake

What do high-achieving students taking multiple AP classes and students who are struggling to pass their classes have in common? Despite their differences, both groups can feel disconnected from school, but not for the reasons you might think.

This brief summarizes findings from over two years of fieldwork in two very different high schools in Los Angeles. The authors found that students feel alienated when they can't see themselves in the narrow story schools tell about success, one that insists that achievement only means good grades, prestigious colleges, and white-collar careers. The brief identifies four types of alienation and recommends that we need to rethink what counts as achievement in the first place.

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CPR Policy Briefs present concise summaries of findings from recent research conducted by CPR affiliates in the areas of crime and the law, economic wellbeing and poverty, education, energy and the environment, families, health, public finance, social welfare, urban and regional economics, and other policy-relevant domains.