February 2026 Edition
From the Partners
This month we are diving into the conversations that matter most in K-12 education right now. From the chronic absenteeism crisis reshaping classrooms to the burnout epidemic pushing talented educators out of the profession, these are the issues keeping school leaders up at night. We have also included practical insights on student engagement and a special announcement about our free Summer Program Readiness Diagnostic Tool. Our hope is that this newsletter sparks meaningful dialogue and provides actionable perspectives for the work you do every day.
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The Attendance Crisis No One Wants to Talk About
28% of students are chronically absent.
That means nearly 1 in 3 kids is missing enough school to fall dangerously behind. And here is the part that keeps us up at night.
When one student misses school repeatedly, it pulls everyone else down too. Teachers spend precious instructional time reviewing material instead of moving forward. Classroom routines never solidify. Peer relationships suffer. And the cycle feeds itself because research shows absent students make their classmates more likely to skip school too.
But punishment does not work. Threatening families with legal action backfires almost every time.
What actually moves the needle?
Schools with strong family engagement before problems start see chronic absenteeism rates 6 percentage points lower than similar schools without it. Career and technical education pathways that feel relevant to students create real reasons to show up. And programs that address root causes like transportation gaps, mental health needs, and food insecurity outperform compliance checklists every single time.
The question is not whether students will attend. The question is whether we are building programs worth attending.
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The Teacher Retention Truth Bomb
44% of K-12 teachers feel burned out.
That makes teaching the most burned-out profession in America. More than healthcare workers. More than first responders. More than anyone else. And 55% of teachers say they plan to leave the profession earlier than they originally intended.
We cannot keep asking educators to cope their way out of a systemic crisis.
The research points to something different. Schools with systematic engagement practices see dramatically lower turnover. When teachers feel trusted, supported, and given adequate time for planning, they stay. The Gallup data is striking. Educators are 62% less likely to leave their school when they feel genuinely engaged in their work.
This is not about self-care apps or wellness workshops. This is about leadership decisions. It is about streamlining administrative paperwork that steals time from instruction. It is about setting clear expectations that protect teachers from scope creep. It is about building cultures of collaboration rather than compliance.
The teachers who leave are not the ones who stopped caring. They are the ones who cared so much they burned themselves out trying to do it all.
The Engagement Paradox Hiding in Plain Sight
92% of students say engaging lessons make school more enjoyable. Yet 8 in 10 students report feeling bored at least once a week.
Something is not adding up.
The Discovery Education 2025-2026 Insights Report revealed a fascinating disconnect. Students desperately want to engage. They crave challenging, relevant work. Nearly 4 in 5 actually say school feels too easy. But less than half of students believe their teachers even know when they are engaged.
We are measuring compliance and calling it engagement.
True engagement shows up in three dimensions. Behavioral engagement is participation and presence. Emotional engagement is belonging and connection. Cognitive engagement is curiosity, persistence, and depth of thinking. When students feel personally connected to their teachers and classmates, when they feel like valued members of a community, everything else follows. Attendance improves. Achievement rises. Behavior issues drop.
The research is clear. Engagement is not a nice to have. It is a prerequisite for learning.
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FEATURED
The Summer Readiness Wake-Up Call
Your students will lose 2-3 months of math skills this summer. Unless you do something about it right now.
The research is clear. Students from 3rd to 8th grade lose 25-30% of their math gains and 15-25% of reading progress every single summer. And for students in under-resourced communities, those losses compound year after year until the achievement gap becomes a canyon.
But here is what most program leaders miss.
Summer programs that run fewer than 5 weeks show almost no measurable impact. Attendance below 80% cuts effectiveness in half. And programs without engaging enrichment activities struggle to get families through the door in the first place. The difference between a summer program that transforms outcomes and one that wastes resources comes down to intentional design, staff readiness, and operational excellence.
Introducing the Free Summer Program Readiness Diagnostic Tool
gsweducationpartners.com/summer
In under 5 minutes, discover exactly where your program stands across curriculum alignment, staffing capacity, family engagement systems, and operational infrastructure. Walk away with a personalized readiness score and actionable next steps.
What the Diagnostic Assesses
The tool evaluates four critical dimensions of summer program success. Curriculum and Instructional Design measures alignment with evidence-based practices and balance between academic instruction and enrichment. Staffing and Professional Development assesses hiring readiness, training systems, and retention strategies. Family Engagement Infrastructure evaluates recruitment pipelines and attendance maintenance strategies. Operational Excellence examines scheduling, safety protocols, compliance readiness, and sustainability planning.
The Four-Tier Classification System
Programs receive classification into one of four readiness tiers. Foundation Level programs need significant development across multiple areas. Growth Level programs have solid fundamentals but require targeted improvements. Excellence Level programs demonstrate strong readiness with minor refinements needed. Exemplary Level programs serve as models of best practice across all assessment areas.
The Impact We Aim to Achieve
Our goal is to help program leaders identify blind spots before they become summer disasters. We want every district summer program, and every out-of-school time initiative to enter summer 2026 with eyes wide open about their strengths and growth areas. By democratizing access to a professional-grade assessment tool at no cost, we hope to raise the floor for summer programming nationwide. The ultimate measure of success will be students who return to school in fall 2026 without the learning losses that have plagued previous summers. When programs are ready, students thrive.
GSW EDUCATION PARTNERS
Transforming K-12 Programs Into Centers of Excellence
contact@gsweducationpartners.com | gsweducationpartners.com
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