The Mattering Gap, a report

Fri, 16 Oct 2026 20:33:06 -0700

The Walton Family Foundation and the good folks at Gallup have partnered for a series of reports on the current state of Education in America. The latest is “Teaching for Tomorrow: The Mattering Gap Among K-12 Educators.”

Page 4 has the key findings, which are absolutely worth everyone’s attention. I’ll share just the first:

Roughly one in three K-12 educators (35%) say they matter a great deal at their school. Mattering varies slightly by school type and subject taught, but the differences are small. This suggests mattering is less demographically driven and more a function of the system in which educators teach.

I have my own thoughts on why this is so low, but I recommend faculty and school administrators read the report linked above

Education on Intellectual Sprawl

The Mattering Gap, a report