ÌÇÐ͝Âþvlog

Special Report
Student Well-Being & Movement From Our Research Center

Student and Teacher Motivation, in Charts

By Arianna Prothero — February 21, 2023 1 min read
A group of high school students and their teacher crowd around a laptop and read the screen together.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print
Email Copy URL

Ask teens about how motivated they are to do well in school and hopeful they are feeling about the future, and the overall outlook is fairly sunny—in some cases, decidedly more so than it was two years ago.

But when you ask ÌÇÐ͝Âþvlog a similar question about their students and themselves, their answers paint a very different picture.

That’s according to the results of two nationally representative surveys conducted by the EdWeek Research Center between December 2022 and February 2023.

Perhaps the starkest difference between 13- to 19-year-olds and ÌÇÐ͝Âþvlog: Thirty-eight percent of students said that as of 2023, the pandemic had made them less motivated to do their best in school. But a whopping 80 percent of ÌÇÐ͝Âþvlog said that the pandemic had made students less motivated.

There is, however, one area where students and ÌÇÐ͝Âþvlog (teachers, principals, and district leaders) are in near total agreement, and that’s on how motivated teachers are to teach students. About 80 percent of students and ÌÇÐ͝Âþvlog say that teachers in their schools are motivated to do their best.

The following charts present a clearer picture of how student and teacher motivation are shaping up this school year, based on the perspectives of nationally representative samples of 1,011 students and 1,058 teachers, principals, and district leaders.

Coverage of whole-child approaches to learning is supported in part by a grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, at . Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of this coverage.
A version of this article appeared in the March 01, 2023 edition of Education Week as Student and Teacher Motivation, in Charts

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Reading & Literacy Webinar
Unlocking Success for Struggling Adolescent Readers
The Science of Reading transformed K-3 literacy. Now it's time to extend that focus to students in grades 6 through 12.
Content provided by 
Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
College & Workforce Readiness Webinar
Climb: A New Framework for Career Readiness in the Age of AI
Discover practical strategies to redefine career readiness in K–12 and move beyond credentials to develop true capability and character.
Content provided by 

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.

Read Next

Student Well-Being & Movement Do Book Bans Protect Students, or Silence Needed Conversations?
When schools ban books that contain sensitive topics, is it the right move?
5 min read
Surreal open book ready to be read in a wild meadow
iStock/Getty
Student Well-Being & Movement Teens Are Sleeping Less. Why Schools Should Be Worried
Lack of sleep is directly tied to lower academic performance.
4 min read
A Mansfield Senior High School student rests during his health class on sleep, in Mansfield, Ohio, Dec. 6, 2024.
A high school student rests during a health class about sleep habits in Mansfield, Ohio, on Dec. 6, 2024. Researchers found that the number of teens getting insufficient sleep, defined as seven hours or less a night, rose from 69% in 2007 to 78% in 2023.
Phil Long/AP
Student Well-Being & Movement Download Catching Bad Days Before They Become Behavior Problems
What are the subtle signs that tell you students are maybe struggling? Here's a useful guide.
1 min read
032026 behavior tutor Banerji GT
Gina Tomko/Education Week + Canva
Student Well-Being & Movement The School Role Helping Prevent Misbehavior Before It Starts
Experienced teachers can spot signs of trouble in students early in the school day.
7 min read
Students eat breakfast and color in Topaz Stotts' second-grade classroom before school starts at Klatt Elementary School in Anchorage, Aug. 17, 2021. Debate over school funding is dominating the Alaska Legislature as districts face teacher shortages and in some cases multimillion-dollar deficits. Schools have cut programs, increased class sizes or had teachers and administrators take on extra roles. (Emily Mesner/Anchorage Daily News via AP, File)
Students eat breakfast and color before the start of the school day in a second grade classroom at Klatt Elementary School in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 17, 2021. Some districts around the country are turning to behavior tutors and similar staff roles to help address student behavior challenges and support teachers.
Emily Mesner/Anchorage Daily News via AP