The post-pandemic landscape of student growth presents a mixed picture—while recent research might seem sobering, there are encouraging signs: older students are showing signs of recovery, reading growth is stronger, and teachers are more crucial than ever. COVID-19 wasn’t just a significant event for students, it was a defining moment for educators who dedicated countless hours to supporting students through challenging times. The greatest tragedy would be to return to the pre-pandemic "normal" without learning what worked and what didn’t during COVID-19 teaching.
Now is the time to reflect on the evolving needs of our students and recommit to supporting every learner.
Set High Expectations
As educators, we often excel in teaching students who are below average but struggle with those above average. Sometimes, resources are allocated only when we emphasize our challenges with lower-performing students, but this approach misses the mark. We must avoid letting above-average students coast simply because they can do the work and meet most expectations. That’s not good enough—every student deserves to be challenged with stretch targets, ensuring they achieve at least a year's growth for a year's input. In fact, many students need more than a year's growth, further emphasizing the importance of high expectations for all.
Here’s a critical insight: a study of 20,000 educators revealed that teachers dominate classroom conversations, talking 89% of the time and asking 100–150 questions daily that require less than three-word answers. Moreover, 90%–95% of the feedback teachers provide is factual. If teachers talked less about facts and created more space for student questions, it could significantly boost student growth. This shift would make the "gradual release of responsibility" model a reality, engage students in the curiosity of asking "why," and transform classrooms into vibrant centers of learning.
Make Classrooms Inviting
Ask your students, “Do you want to come to school and learn what I teach?” Nearly all five-year-olds respond with an enthusiastic “Yes,” but by junior high school, that number plummets to just 40%. If you can't beat the Jenkins Curve, you’re not even in the game. Our challenge is to maintain the excitement of five-year-olds in their 15-year-old bodies.
A global study involving 30 million students revealed that 40% felt their teacher wasn’t interested in their learning, and another 40% said their teachers didn’t keep teaching until they understood the material. If students don’t feel invited to learn, and if they do not feel a sense of mastery, they won’t engage—or worse, they’ll be bored. Boredom occurs when students aren’t challenged, and every student craves challenge. Our job is to challenge them in the domains we believe are most valuable.
Engagement Isn’t Just about Doing the Work
Sadly, much of what we consider engagement involves little actual learning. I recall my son’s teachers loving him because he seemed engaged, but I knew he was more interested in lunch, sports, and girls. When he was about 11, he confided, “Dad, I’m a fraud at school. I don’t know what’s going on.” Ironically, he was the first of my three children to become a teacher. Many students like him fly under the radar—they disengage or avoid learning altogether. These are the students with whom we can make the most significant impact—if we’re aware of them.
Students should drive their own learning, but our system often makes them dependent on us, believing their role is to watch us do most of the work. Interestingly, above-average students often want more teacher talk and factual discussions because it’s a game they’ve learned to win. By contrast, below-average students want us to stop talking and listen, but they first need to feel invited to speak up, be curious, and participate. They want to know, “How did you do that?” They want guidance on the best learning strategies for problem solving and managing errors, and they need us to listen to them think, so we can help them do it better.
Understand the Value of Challenge
Every student enters the classroom with a deep reservoir of motivation, but many choose not to invest it in the tasks we assign. When a teacher claims, “Kids aren’t motivated,” it’s a sign that the teacher isn’t successfully motivating their students.
Why are students motivated to play video games? Because these games present challenges that are neither too easy nor too hard nor too boring, and they offer multiple opportunities to progress. When students reach the next level, they don’t say, “I’m done.” Instead, they seek out new challenges. We should apply this “Goldilocks principle”—not too hard, not too easy, not too boring—to education. It’s a game-changer. When students make connections, their expressions change—their chins lift, brows rise, eyes widen—and you can see and hear the joy of learning.
Here’s my point: let’s reduce teacher talk and increase the challenge in the classroom (with safety nets in place). Students are more likely to remember those breakthrough moments because they’re making connections. This deepens their understanding. Most students believe it’s the teacher’s job to tell them how to solve problems, but problem solving is a skill they need to be taught, to engage in regularly, and to see that there are multiple ways and times to be a problem solver.
The Joy of Working with Kids
Let me conclude with what truly brings me joy: working with kids. Every Monday, I babysit my two-and-a-half-year-old grandson, and it’s the highlight of my week. While I struggle to get off the floor as quickly as he does, I witness his growing curiosity and the joy of continual discovery. We need to rekindle that same joy in the classroom. I want students to leave your class with a love of learning, knowing what to do when they don’t know what to do, feeling invited to return and learn more, and recognizing that they have high-impact teachers—not by chance, but by design.
Want to hear more from John? Tune in to his Extraordinary Educators™ Podcast, or read Creating Conditions for Accelerating Learning and Back-to-School Strategies.
