How We Measure Impact at Hilight
Some of the most important things that happen in schools are also some of the hardest to measure.
It is hard to put a number on the impact a teacher has on a student. It is hard to quantify what happens when someone who has been having a difficult week is reminded that their work matters. And it is hard to measure exactly what changes when an educator feels more connected to their colleagues, more appreciated by their school, or more proud to be part of their district.
But hard to measure does not mean immeasurable.
At Hilight, we believe deeply in the power of making people feel seen and valued. We also believe that when a district invests in Hilight, that investment should produce measurable impact.
And it does.
We see that impact in the staff culture data districts are already collecting. We see it in thousands of additional moments of recognition. We see it in retention and the dollars associated with keeping great people. We see it in how consistently recognition reaches employees across a district. And we see it in outcomes for students.
Here is how we measure it.
1. Survey Data: Impact shows up in the staff culture data you already collect.
School districts across the country are already measuring staff culture and engagement.
The surveys are different. Some districts use internally developed surveys. Others work with outside partners. Some measure engagement annually, while others collect feedback throughout the year.
That is actually helpful, because it means districts often have staff culture data from before Hilight ever arrives.
After implementing Hilight, those same surveys provide an important measure of impact over time.
Look at the measures your district already uses around staff appreciation, connection, belonging, engagement, and pride.
Are more employees reporting that they feel appreciated for their work? Do more feel connected to their colleagues? Do they feel their contributions are valued? Do they feel a greater sense of belonging? Are they more excited to come to work?
We have seen those measures move.
At one public middle school in Louisiana, one year after implementing Hilight, staff culture and climate survey results included:
88% of staff agreed or strongly agreed, “I feel supported and respected by my principal and administrators,” a 33% increase from the year before Hilight.
100% agreed or strongly agreed that there is a teacher, counselor, or other staff member students can go to for help with a school or personal problem, a 43% increase from the year before Hilight.
88% agreed or strongly agreed, “I feel respected and supported by other teachers at this school,” a 25% increase from the year before Hilight.
94% agreed or strongly agreed, “I enjoy working at this school,” a 46% increase from the year before Hilight.
And when asked more directly about support and recognition, 94% of staff agreed, “I feel supported in my role,” and 88% agreed, “I feel the rest of the school community sees the good work I do.”
Those are exactly the kinds of measures we expect to see move when people feel more supported, connected, and seen at work.
Hilight does not require a district to adopt an entirely new definition of staff engagement or add another survey to educators' plates. The impact shows up in the measures your district already uses and trusts.
That gives districts an existing baseline and a consistent way to see how staff experience changes after implementation and over time.
2. Usage Metrics: We measure how many times your people are actually seen.
Think about the recognition already happening in a school district.
You might name one Teacher of the Year.
Or maybe you recognize one certified and one classified employee at every monthly board meeting. That is 24 moments of formal recognition throughout the year.
Those moments matter. But what percentage of your staff do they reach?
Now imagine that number is not 1 or 24, but thousands or even tens of thousands of moments when someone is specifically told: I saw what you did, and it mattered.
What if everyone could be recognized?
That is one of the most concrete ways we measure Hilight's impact.
We can see how many hilights are sent, how many employees participate, how many people receive recognition, and how consistently those moments happen throughout the year.
Hilight makes it possible for recognition to happen at a scale that simply is not possible through a handful of formal awards or celebrations alone.
And the goal is not to manufacture a bigger number. A hilight matters because it represents a real moment of authentic recognition between people.
So when a district sends 10,000 hilights, what we really see are 10,000 moments when someone's work was noticed.
That is impact we can count.
3. Retention & ROI: Retaining even one teacher can create a real return.
There are many reasons a teacher decides whether to stay.
Compensation absolutely matters. So do leadership, working conditions, workload, and personal circumstances.
But how people feel about where they work matters, too.
A 2026 national analysis from the Learning Policy Institute found that teachers with high job and workplace satisfaction had an 8% turnover rate, compared with 22% among teachers with low job and workplace satisfaction. That measure included teachers' experiences of positive school environments, enthusiasm, stress and burnout, and willingness to stay in teaching. The same analysis found that teachers who experienced more effective and supportive leadership were also significantly more likely to stay.
That is important because making people feel seen is not just a nice thing to do.
Whether people feel supported, connected, appreciated, and good about where they work is part of the retention equation.
Hilight is not the only investment a district is making in retention, nor should it be. Districts are simultaneously investing in compensation, leadership, working conditions, professional learning, and many other things that influence whether someone stays.
Hilight strengthens an important piece of that equation every single day:
Do I feel like the work I am doing here matters?
Do the people around me see it?
Do I feel connected to this place and these people?
And retaining even one teacher has real financial value.
The Learning Policy Institute estimates that replacing a teacher costs about $12,000 in a small district and $25,000 in a large district, accounting for separation, recruiting, hiring, and training costs.
Which makes the ROI remarkably tangible:
If Hilight helps one teacher decide to stay who otherwise would have left, in many districts Hilight has likely paid for itself.
One teacher.
And behind that financial return is something even more important: a great educator who stays with their colleagues, their school, and their students.
4. Retention & Recruitment Investments: A connected strategy helps every investment in your people add up to more.
School districts already put enormous care, time, and resources into making their people feel appreciated and building a place where people want to work and stay.
Teachers of the Year. Staff appreciation weeks. Breakfasts. Gifts. Board recognition. Principal shout-outs. Handwritten notes. Employee awards. School-level traditions.
Those efforts matter. Hilight is not designed to replace them. It gives them a foundation to build on.
Because even incredible efforts can be difficult to connect and sustain across an entire district.
Recognition might look different from school to school. It might be especially visible during Teacher Appreciation Week but harder to sustain throughout the year. Some employee groups might naturally be easier to celebrate than others. And district and school leaders may be investing significant time coordinating programs that live in different places.
Hilight brings those efforts together.
It creates a consistent way for recognition to happen every day, connects school-level efforts into a districtwide culture, and helps the investments districts are already making in recruitment, retention, culture, and appreciation reinforce one another.
One HR leader told us their district spent approximately $18,000 on donuts in a single year.
We love donuts. Keep the donuts.
The opportunity is to make sure that the time, care, and resources districts are already investing in their people add up to something employees can feel consistently, throughout the year, across the entire organization.
Hilight provides the connective layer underneath that work.
It makes recognition less dependent on a particular event, week, program, or person. It makes it easier to sustain. It amplifies the great things already happening. And it gives leaders visibility into whether all of those investments are actually reaching their people.
Instead of a collection of individual efforts, Hilight helps districts build a connected strategy where every investment in their people can add up to more.
5. Data Dashboards: We measure whether everyone is included.
A district can send 10,000 hilights.
But the total number is only part of the story.
We also measure who is being seen.
Hilight's data dashboards give leaders visibility into how recognition is reaching people across schools, departments, roles, and employee groups.
Are teachers being recognized?
What about paraprofessionals? Custodians? Cafeteria staff? Bus drivers? School leaders? Central office employees?
Are all schools participating?
What percentage of employees have received recognition?
Where is recognition thriving, and where are there employees who are not yet being reached?
This is not only about participation. It is about inclusion.
Every employee in a school system contributes to what happens for students.
Every employee deserves the opportunity to know that contribution is seen.
Hilight gives district leaders a way to see whether the culture they are building actually reaches everyone.
Because 10,000 hilights is powerful.
10,000 hilights that include people across every school, role, and employee group is even more powerful.
6. Student Outcomes: Supporting teachers and supporting students are not two separate goals.
Ultimately, this is why the work matters.
Teachers navigate thousands of interactions with students every day. They respond to frustration. They de-escalate conflict. They notice when something is wrong. They encourage the student who has stopped trying. They decide how to respond when a child pushes back. And then they do it again, and again, and again.
The person standing in front of students matters. And how that person is doing matters.
Research backs that up.
A systematic review of 44 studies encompassing more than 76,000 teachers found teacher well-being was associated with teacher-student relationships, teaching behavior, quality of instruction, student experiences, and student outcomes.
Research has also found that greater teacher stress can be associated with lower teaching quality, which in turn is associated with lower student engagement and poorer student outcomes.
And the relationship teachers build with students matters enormously. A recent review synthesizing more than 70 years of research and approximately 2.64 million students found significant relationships between teacher-student relationships and outcomes including academic achievement, engagement, appropriate behavior, behavior problems, school belonging, and well-being.
At the end of the day, we know what this looks like in a classroom.
We can give a teacher an incredible curriculum, the newest technology, and a beautifully designed lesson. But if the person standing in front of the room is burnt out, defeated, demoralized, and wondering whether any of their work matters, they cannot show up for students in the same way.
Now picture that same teacher feeling energized. Connected to the people around them. Proud of the work they are doing. Confident that it matters. Connected to the mission of their school and district. Reminded regularly that someone sees the difference they are making.
That is the teacher I want standing in front of my daughter.
And we have seen this impact in our own district partnerships.
After implementing Hilight, Coffee County Schools saw student behavior infractions decrease by 11%.
That is not just a staff culture metric. That is an outcome students experience.
Supporting teachers and supporting students are not two separate goals.
When we take better care of the people taking care of students, they are better equipped to take care of students.
Impact should leave evidence.
Making people feel valued is deeply human.
But that does not mean its impact has to be invisible.
With Hilight, we see impact in the staff culture and engagement measures districts are already tracking.
We count thousands of specific moments when employees are seen for their work.
We see whether those moments are reaching people across every school and employee group.
We look at retention and the financial value of keeping great educators.
We help the time, care, and resources districts are already investing in their people become part of a connected strategy.
And we see the impact on students when the adults supporting them feel supported themselves.
No single metric tells the entire story.
Together, they give us something powerful: measurable evidence that investing in the people who make schools work makes a difference.
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