Nearly 1,400 voices—students, teachers, superintendents, and parents—shed light on how engagement is defined, measured, and misunderstood in schools.

INTERVIEW | by Victor Rivero

Engagement may be the engine of student success, but new data shows that educators, parents, and students don’t always agree on what it looks like. Discovery Education’s Education Insights 2025–2026 survey highlights surprising disconnects. In this interview, CEO Brian Shaw unpacks the findings with EdTech Digest.

The report, Education Insights 2025–2026: Fueling Learning Through Engagement, reflects the perspectives of 1,398 superintendents, teachers, parents, and students nationwide. Conducted in May 2025 by Hanover Research, the study offers a timely look at how engagement is defined, measured, and supported in classrooms today. Read on for Shaw’s take on the key findings, what they mean for teaching and learning, and how edtech providers can help close the gaps.

So, let’s get to the interview.

Good afternoon Brian and great to sit down with you again. First, can you start off by telling readers why Discovery Education conducts this research?

For the second year in a row, Discovery Education has conducted an in-depth, nationwide research study that explores a timely and relevant topic in K-12 teaching and instruction that requires more attention and exploration.

This year, we’ve taken a closer look at the topic of student and classroom engagement. We know that student engagement is nuanced, multidimensional, and varies across contexts, age groups, and individual learners. Right now, it seems as if engagement is very top-of-mind for many education stakeholders, so we wanted to take a deeper dive into the subject to gain a greater understanding of how student engagement is defined, observed, and nurtured in classrooms. The results of this in-depth look can be found in Education Insights 2025–2026: Fueling Learning Through Engagement, which is available to all education stakeholders today at www.discoveryeducation.com.

We think that by sharing the insights, opinions, and perspectives of those closest to the classroom—in this case, almost 1,400 superintendents, teachers, parents, and students from across the United States—we can spark new conversations about student engagement, assist stakeholders in creating actionable steps that lead to more challenging, supportive learning environments promoting dynamic instruction, and help every student reach their fullest potential.

Now, from your perspective, what are the biggest takeaways from this report?

There were a lot of really interesting nuggets of information that came out of this report, but for me, the biggest takeaway was the finding that, even though engagement is broadly recognized by educators as a key driver of learning, there is disagreement among educators as to what the top indicators of engagement in their classrooms are.

According to the data we collected, 93% of educators agreed that student engagement is a critical metric to understanding overall achievement, and 99% of superintendents polled believe student engagement is one of the top predictors of success at school.

‘According to the data we collected, 93% of educators agreed that student engagement is a critical metric to understanding overall achievement, and 99% of superintendents polled believe student engagement is one of the top predictors of success at school.’

But while teachers and superintendents agreed that engagement is important to learning, there were differences on what constituted strong indicators of student engagement. 72% of teachers ranked “asking thoughtful questions” as the strongest indicator of student engagement while 54% of superintendents identified “performing well on assessments” as a top engagement indicator. It is interesting to note that teachers ranked standardized assessments as among the lowest indicators of engagement. 

Another key finding of Education Insights 2025–2026 is that school leaders and teachers disagree on whether their schools have systems for measuring engagement. Overwhelming majorities of superintendents and principals said their districts have an intentional approach to measuring engagement, but only 60% of teachers surveyed agreed with that statement. In addition, nearly 1/3 of teachers say that a lack of clear, shared definitions is a top challenge to measuring interest, motivation and engagement effectively. Taken together these data points paint a picture of confusion as to if schools are actually measuring engagement, and if so, what it is they are measuring, emerges.

Education Insights 2025–2026 also collected information on students’ perceptions of their own engagement and the results differed from teachers’ perceptions. When asked to rate the degree to which they agree with this statement- “Students are highly engaged in school,” 63% of students agreed and only 45% of teachers and 51% of principals agreed with the same statement. In addition, when we reviewed the data by grade band, the gap between students’ perceptions of their engagement and educators’ perceptions of engagement widened, painting a worrying picture of a perceived “engagement gap” between teachers and students that grows as a child progresses through school. 

Finally, as we are living in the age of AI, we felt it prudent to include some questions on the topic. Interestingly, we found that proximity to the classroom changed respondents’ impressions of AI. For example, two-thirds of students believe AI could help them learn faster, yet fewer than half of teachers report using AI themselves. Only 57% of teachers agreed with the statement “I frequently learn about positive ways students are using AI,” while 87% of principals and 98% of superintendents agreed. Likewise, only 53% of teachers agreed with the statement “I am excited about the potential for AI to support teaching and learning,” compared to 83% of principals and 94% of superintendents. 

‘Interestingly, we found that proximity to the classroom changed respondents’ impressions of AI. For example, two-thirds of students believe AI could help them learn faster, yet fewer than half of teachers report using AI themselves.’

There is a lot more really interesting data in the report on perceived student barriers to engagement, how students demonstrate disengagement in the classroom, what strategies can improve student engagement, and more, so I’d encourage readers to download the report and review the data and insights themselves.

What do you see as the main takeaway for educators in this data?

Here are what I believe are the three takeaways for educators in the Education Insights 2025-2026 report:

Student engagement is variable, and thus a challenging concept to define and measure. It manifests itself in various forms, and what constitutes engagement for one student, or group of students, may differ by classroom, school or district.

Better strategies, shared definitions, and effective tools are needed to monitor and foster engagement. Alignment across roles, practical resources, and actionable insights empower teachers to establish engaging learning environments that support the holistic development of all students.

Barriers to deeper student engagement can be both visible and hidden. Students may complete tasks without fully committing to learning, making it challenging to identify and address passive or withdrawn behaviors.

Let’s switch gears here and talk about what you believe this report means for edtech. What is edtech’s role in solving the disconnect between Teachers, Principals, and Superintendents that the Education Insights 2025–2026 report uncovered?

First, I believe edtech providers need to commit to working with students, teachers, principals, and administrators to find agreement on the strongest indicators of engagement in the classroom. The edtech industry can play a major role in surfacing the diverse ways engagement is interpreted, experienced, defined in education today, and in building consensus on those topics.

I believe that edtech providers should also play a role in developing and supporting effective new ways of monitoring  student engagement. For example, monitoring students behavioral, cognitive, and affective engagement with learning activities and resources will provide actionable insights that can then help create better instructional strategies and solutions. 

In addition, edtech should seek to research and quantify the relationship between engagement and achievement. Can we predict academic achievement based on engagement indicators? Are some forms of engagement more important to student achievement than others in certain contexts or environments—for instance, what type of engagement is most helpful in a math classroom?  What engagement indicators should a science teacher look for? How could these indicators be best reflected and measured in edtech solutions? These are all questions we, as edtech providers, can help answer.

‘…what type of engagement is most helpful in a math classroom?  What engagement indicators should a science teacher look for? How could these indicators be best reflected and measured in edtech solutions?’

The overwhelming numbers of educators we polled believe student engagement is one of the top predictors of success at school. We need to clarify this linkage, find ways to effectively measure student engagement, and then explicitly connect that measurement to academic achievement.

Specifically, how will Discovery Education pivot to address these findings?

Discovery Education has always sought to provide educators and students with high-quality edtech tools and resources that engage students and improve achievement. Through the user experience and product research we conduct, we monitor several student engagement indicators, and with our efficacy research we have been able to demonstrate our products’ ability to support academic achievement.

Earlier this year, we enhanced our products with more real-world connections, more personalized content, and more innovative instructional strategies as part of our ongoing efforts to ensure our resources continue to fuel student engagement. That work will continue as we enhance our resources.

But that is not enough.

As we move forward, Discovery Education will add to its ongoing work to support student engagement and its connections to student success and achievement. In addition to our efforts to create the highest-quality edtech solutions in the market, we will seek to build consensus on the strongest indicators of engagement in the classroom, explore how best to monitor student engagement through our products and services, and begin research on how to quantify the relationship between engagement and achievement.

‘…work to support student engagement and its connections to student success and achievement.’

One of the most important findings of this report—that engagement is seen as essential to learning, but inconsistently defined, observed, and supported in K-12 classrooms nationwide—highlights the need for a more standardized approach to measuring and fostering student engagement across all educational settings—and especially with edtech products and services. Achieving such a standardized approach will be challenge, but it is one that Discovery Education embraces readily.

Thanks for your time, Brian.  Where can educators interested in learning about this report learn more?

Education Insights 2025–2026: Fueling Learning Through Engagement is now available at www.discoveryeducation.com.

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Victor Rivero is the Editor-in-Chief of EdTech Digest. Write to: victor@edtechdigest.com

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