Report: New Mexico teachers have 2nd highest morale in US

The respected publication Education Week  recently released its State of Teaching 2026 report for interactive state-level data and reporting on the factors shaping teacher morale, including compensation, class size, planning time, and student discipline.

In other words, their data offers a timely look at how the state’s teachers feel about their jobs. In what can only be described as “surprising,” New Mexico scored +18 on the Teacher Morale Index, tied for 2nd nationally and 5 points above the national score of +13.

Considering the terrible (worst in the nation) performance of New Mexico’s schools and the serious social and economic challenges classroom teachers face, this is a bit of a head-scratcher. The top state for teacher morale was Arkansas while the worst state was Pennsylvania.

From RGF’s perspective it appears that teacher morale (whether teacher like their jobs and feel fairly compensated/have small class sizes/and even adequate classroom discipline) is largely an irrelevant when it comes to student outcomes. New Mexico being a great example of a state with high morale and low student achievement. Is it surprising that teacher morale seems to have so little to do with student outcomes?