Student behavior problems continue to plague schools, and educators say they’ve actually grown more serious, according to a recent survey by the EdWeek Research Center.
Nearly half of teachers, school leaders, and district leaders this school year—48 percent—said in the survey that students’ behavior was a lot worse this fall when compared to their pre-pandemic behavior.
The nationally representative survey of 990 educators—134 district leaders, 97 school leaders, and 759 teachers—was conducted by the EdWeek Research Center from Dec. 12-19, 2024.
The number of educators who reported worsening student behavior since the pandemic has ticked up since the last time the EdWeek Research Center asked the same question. In early 2023, a third of educators surveyed said students were misbehaving a lot more than before the pandemic shuttered schools.
Student misbehavior has routinely topped teachers’ lists of concerns and most pressing challenges in recent years. There’s been a pronounced spike in behavior problems, ranging from minor classroom disruptions to more serious student fights broadcast on social media, since students returned to school buildings. Teachers have also reported a drop in students’ motivation in that time period.
At the same time, schools are working on strategies to better engage students in their learning, reinforce good behavior, and strengthen student-teacher relationships largely in an effort to minimize disruptions.
In the EdWeek Research Center survey, 72 percent of educators said students in their classroom, school, or district have been misbehaving either “a little” (24 percent) or “a lot” (48 percent) more than in the fall of 2019, the last semester before the COVID-19 pandemic began.
When surveyed in early 2023, 70 percent of educators said students were misbehaving more than in 2019. At that time, 36 percent of respondents said students were misbehaving “a little more” while 33 percent said they were misbehaving “a lot more.”
In 2021, 66 percent of respondents said their students were misbehaving a little or a lot more than in fall 2019.
In the December 2024 survey, 20 percent of teachers, principals, and district leaders said students misbehave “about the same amount” as in the fall of 2019, down slightly from the 24 percent who said the same in 2023.
Student misbehavior is hurting staff morale, some survey respondents said.
Indeed, past surveys have documented this overall dip in teacher morale. An annual report released in August by the EdWeek Research Center showed that just 18 percent of public school teachers said they are very satisfied with their jobs, a much lower percentage than decades ago, and a slight drop from the year prior when 20 percent of teachers said the same.
In that same report, many elementary and middle school teachers said they need more support in dealing with student discipline, and that the additional help would improve their mental health. Eighty percent of teachers reported they have to address students’ behavioral problems “at least a few times a week,” with 58 percent saying this happens every day, according to a Pew Research Center report from April 2024.
“Our school is really struggling with student behaviors (lots of disrespect and not following the rules, and teachers are almost too tired to even care),” one person wrote in an open-ended response to the EdWeek Research Center’s December survey. “We even had a PD yesterday regarding some of that, and I don’t think any of the teachers left feeling hopeful or with anything they could take back [to] their classrooms. It’s really disconcerting that no one is offering solutions to help the teachers.”
Another respondent added that while student behavior in their classroom is about the same, hallways and other common spaces have gotten rowdier. Teachers hare reported that hallway fights—that are sometimes filmed and posted on the internet—can ignite cycles of cyberbullying and additional problems later.
“When students are outside of class in hallways, gathered during non-class times, etc., there seems to be an increase in lack of awareness of their environment,” the person wrote. “Students, especially underclassmen, are louder, more belligerent, unkind, and socially awkward. There also seems to be a larger population of students who struggle to separate fantasy from reality. Finally, the phone addiction has definitely had a negative impact on students’ ability to relate to each other and adults effectively, to maintain focus on tasks at hand, to problem-solve, to persevere, to think creatively, and to appreciate moments of peace.”
Some educators (9 percent) said students are misbehaving less now. One survey respondent credited improved leadership for their school’s better student behavior.
“Our student behaviors have improved since 2019 because our administration has improved,” the person wrote in an open-ended response. “We now have administrators with teaching experience, whereas in 2019 our administrators had no classroom experience and sometimes showed no ability to even address a group of students effectively.”
Data analysis for this article was provided by the EdWeek Research Center. Learn more about the center’s work.
