In surveys with nearly 1,000 leaders we have worked with, it is clear there are 11 problems educators are working hard to solve, Peter DeWitt and Michael Nelson write in an Education Week article. DeWitt is a former K-5 public school principal turned author, presenter, and leadership coach. Nelson is a leadership coach and thought partner for the Instructional Leadership Collective
This is not an exhaustive list, and it is not written in order of importance:
1) Student engagement and belonging – Researchers in 1972 found two types of alienation that students feel that warrant attention: identification and powerlessness. Those researchers defined identification as a “student’s’ sense of belonging to his school.” Powerlessness is defined as a “student’s feeling of incapacity to affect the direction of his learning.”
2) Attendance and chronic absenteeism – Paying attention to student engagement and belonging is directly connected to improving attendance and chronic absenteeism. And absenteeism is not just about students. A Brookings report from 2025 focuses on the increase in teacher absenteeism as well.
3) Support for All Students – Giving every student the specific resources, support and opportunities they need to reach their full academic and social potential is an outcome leaders and teachers are pursuing as they search for strategies that will positively impact students.
4) Multilingual learners – Teachers and leaders are searching for effective methods for teachers to work with English learners. That has been a consistent theme when we work with individual leaders through coaching or within Instructional Leadership Collectives.
5) Tier 1 Instruction and MTSS clarity – Understanding and mastering Tier 1 (high-quality, core curriculum and support) and the framework of Multi-Tiered System of Support for providing academic, behavioral, and social-emotional support have consistently come up as one of the top themes for leaders and teachers.
6) Data use that drives instruction – The reality is that beyond using data to drive instruction, leaders are focused on using data to drive their leadership practices as well.
7) Banning technology – The last few years have seen more districts banning cellphones. Now there are calls to take eliminating distractions a step further by removing laptops from classrooms, too. This will be a critical issue to follow in 2026.
8) Culture of collaboration, not compliance – Creating better ways to collaborate is seen by leaders as a critical way to solve their teacher-shortage issue while at the same time providing a climate of deep learning for all staff. Both of us were school leaders who had the great benefit of collaborating with teachers, which made us better leaders.
9) Teacher shortage – The teacher shortage is not just confined to the United States. Better pay, improving the mental health of students and adults, and a culture of collaboration would go a long way to lessen the shortage.
10) Prioritizing and managing overwhelming demands – When we help school and district leaders focus on a problem involving practice, most times we are politely confronted with the same question: “Where do we start?” It’s hard for leaders to focus on one area when they have so many others to worry about as well.
11) Leadership capacity and systems building – Collective leader efficacy is the shared belief that through developing a shared understanding around critical issues, engaging in joint work, and collecting evidence of impact, school and district leadership teams can positively impact the issues they face. This joint work is meant to help build capacity for teachers and contributes to distributed leadership.
If we know these are 11 areas being focused on here in the United States and the several other English-speaking countries where we work, could we work in collectives with leaders from different schools, districts, or states to find better solutions for students? It would certainly break down isolation and silos and embrace a united effort of collaboration.
Education Week
