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 Half of 16-Year-Old Boys Are Gambling. What Can Schools Do?
A Common Sense Media report examines adolescent boys' experiences with gambling and gambling-like activities.
4 min read
Teenager using a smartphone lying in bed late at night, playing games, watching videos online, and scrolling the screen. Children's screen addiction. Screen Addiction in Youth.
Javier Zayas/iStock/Getty
Student Well-Being & Movement Educators Want Schools Delivering Broad Array of SEL Skills, Survey Shows
An EdWeek Research Center survey finds support for building students' communication and problem-solving.
5 min read
Photo of cheerful dreamy girl dressed in checkered shirt closed eyes practicing yoga, SEL skills
Vanessa Solis/Education Week via Canva
Student Well-Being & Movement Opinion Is Your School’s SEL Strategy Working? The Questions Every Educator Should Ask
The evidence for social and emotional learning is strong, but the field is messy.
Christina Cipriano
5 min read
Figures tend to a student shaped garden
Mary Hassdyk Vooys for Education Week
Student Well-Being & Movement School Counselors See Rising Trauma Linked to Immigration Enforcement
The school staff whose job it is to support students say they see major signs of emotional distress.
6 min read
Students take a recess break outside of St. Paul district school in St. Paul, MN, February 23, 2026.
Students take recess outside an elementary school in St. Paul, Minn., on Feb. 23, 2026.
Tim Evans for Education Week