Student Perceptions of Classroom Learning: Plus Ça Change, Plus C'est la Même Chose?1

Despite billions of invested dollars and numerous reform initiatives, American K–12 student achievement has stagnated. Researchers have identified factors ostensibly responsible for the problem but most, if not all, are beyond the control of teachers. We utilize a different approach to explore factors that students–-rather than educators, researchers, or policymakers–-indicate are most responsible for poor learning. Perception data from three middle school cohorts (1979, 2000, and 2013) are compared to determine how a small number of learning-related inhibitory factors have changed over time. Unfortunately, our findings suggest that, indeed, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.