The School Culture Report 2026 from Alpaca combines eight months of educator pulse data with 155 leader surveys and 38 in-depth interviews to show what's working in schools and why.
OMAHA, Neb., April 30, 2026 /PRNewswire-±¬ÁϹ«Éçapp/ -- A new national report of educator and school leader voice reveals that school leaders are making meaningful progress building culture through relational habits. But educator wellbeing remains a deep and persistent challenge the profession has yet to structurally address.
The School Culture Report 2026, released today by , the school leadership platform powered by teacher voice, offers one of the most comprehensive examinations of school culture to date. The report draws on eight months of pulse survey data across ten culture dimensions and candid reflections from leaders spanning public, charter, and private schools in urban, suburban, and rural communities. The data includes a survey of 155 school and district leaders, 33,144 educator pulse survey responses, and 38 in-depth interviews.
The School Leadership Habits That Matter Most
When asked to name the single leadership habit that has made the biggest difference for their team, leaders overwhelmingly named relational practices: presence and visibility (23%), 1:1 management and listening (22%), and consistent communication (14%). These three habit categories account for nearly two-thirds of all weighted responses. The highest-leverage leadership moves are not programmatic — they are personal, relational, and repeatable.
"Relationships are the key — I make a point of touching base with every staff member at least once a day, to ask about something personal or professional, but just to talk to them," said Julie Pearson, principal at Nathan Hale Elementary School in Whiting, Indiana.
The School Leader Confidence Gap
Perhaps the most actionable finding is the gap between what leaders know works and what they feel confident doing consistently.
Employee wellbeing is the area leaders feel the lowest confidence in, with only 30.3% of leaders reporting high confidence in their ability to support staff wellbeing. The low level of confidence coupled with health and wellbeing as the lowest ranking area for educators, a critical area of focus emerges. Further, presence and visibility is simultaneously the habit leaders credit as most impactful and one of the practices they most want to improve.
Leaders are not failing to improve because they lack awareness or motivation. They are struggling because the structural conditions of the job — administrative demands, behavioral crises, compliance requirements — make it genuinely difficult to prioritize the relational work that produces strong school culture, and ultimately, employee retention.
What Educators Are Telling Us
The educator data reinforces the leadership findings. Across eight months of surveys — short, recurring check-ins that ask educators how they're experiencing their work — from more than 33,000 educator responses, the themes of growth, belonging, and purpose consistently showed the highest level of positive sentiment level of positivity, averaging 87.7%, 87.2, and 86.6% respectively. But health, the theme capturing educator wellbeing ranked, averaged just 50.8% positive feedback, the lowest of all ten culture dimensions by a wide margin, and separated from the next-lowest theme by 15 percentage points.
When asked what would help them most, educators are remarkably consistent: they need time. The top five needs across all months are overwhelmingly health-themed: requests for wellness time, time to talk and recharge, moments of encouragement, healthy snacks, and quick support check-ins.
"The pace hasn't slowed, expectations keep stacking, and people are tired in a deeper, more cumulative way," said Danae Acker, Instructional Coach at TL Hanna High School in Anderson, S.C.
The Biggest Changes in School Culture
Leaders painted a clear picture of a profession under cumulative pressure. When asked to name the biggest change in school culture since they began their careers, 17% named staff burnout and wellbeing decline as the single biggest shift. An additional 17% named expanding responsibilities and workload, 15% cited worsening student behavior, and 12% pointed to staffing shortages.
"I want our teachers to feel trusted, supported, and seen," said Mark Schuldt, Chief of Elementary Schools, Council Bluffs Community School District, "and today educators are facing challenges that need strong, supportive leaders if we are going to successfully retain our teams."
Where School Culture Is Improving
The data also reveals genuine bright spots. The single most commonly cited area of culture improvement, named by 25% of leaders, was staff connection and collaboration, resulting in relationships deepening, teams strengthening, trust growing. This finding is striking because connection is not a program or a policy. It is a relational outcome, built through sustained, intentional leadership.
Key Implications
The report identifies five through-lines for district and school leaders:
- Health and wellbeing is the #1 place where teachers are struggling, and the lowest area of leadership confidence. Supporting principals and administrators with ways to raise their teachers' level of wellbeing is mission critical.
- Relational leadership is the highest-leverage investment. Presence, listening, and communication consistently outperform programs and systems when it comes to building trust and improving culture.
- The gap between intention and execution is structural. Leaders know that visibility, recognition, and 1:1 management matter, but they need time, systems, and support — to make that work possible.
- Health is a defining challenge of this moment. It is not a temporary disruption but a structural condition, driven by expanding expectations, shrinking resources, and increasingly complex student needs.
- The October–November window is a predictable vulnerability. The steep decline from August to November represents a pattern leaders can anticipate and plan for. Proactive investment in wellbeing and connection during this period may help mitigate the mid-year wall.
To access the executive summary and read the full report, go to .
About Alpaca
Alpaca is on a mission to make school the happiest place to work. Founded in 2022 in Omaha, Nebraska by Karen Borchert, Alpaca is a school leadership platform powered by teacher voice. It gives principals and district leaders real-time insight into how teachers are experiencing the work and the tools to turn that insight into action. Because culture doesn't improve by accident. It improves when leaders have the clarity and the resources to act.
Alpaca serves more than 350 schools and districts and has collected over 500,000 teacher voice data points. The School Culture Report is Alpaca's annual research publication, offering a comprehensive view of school culture and leadership in America, grounded in teacher voice. Learn more at.
Media Contact
Kristen Plemon, PRP Group, a Hawke Media company, 1 616-994-2869, [email protected], prp.group
SOURCE Alpaca
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