District presentation finds social‑emotional learning scores lag while staff and parents report generally positive support

Southern York County School District officials told the board that fall 2024 results from the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) climate survey show stronger ratings for adult support than for social‑emotional learning, and that parent response rates remain low.

Dr. Repper and Dr. Hughes, who presented the results at the board’s meeting, said the district administered the PDE climate survey in October 2024 to students in grades 4–12, staff and parents and that the district has comparable data going back to February 2018. The presenters said the district will repeat the PDE survey in May to produce a fall‑to‑spring comparison.

The presentation emphasized three PDE survey domains: social‑emotional learning (SEL), student support and safe/respectful climate. Dr. Repper said the elementary student averages in the fall were an overall 3.09 (on a 1–4 Likert scale), SEL 3.32, student support 3.07 and safe climate 2.89. He told the board that PDE’s threshold for “area of agreement” is 3.4 and that a score near 2.5 is considered a contradiction for the district’s purposes.

Dr. Hughes summarized middle‑ and high‑school student results and longitudinal response counts. She reported the middle school overall average at 2.75 with SEL 2.57, student support 2.75 and safe climate 2.91. At the high school the district recorded an overall average of 2.71, SEL 2.45, student support 2.73 and safe climate 2.89; 680 high‑school students completed the fall survey, according to the presentation.

Presenters gave question‑level examples to show how averages translate into everyday meaning: elementary students agreed they “get along well with others” (3.4) and that “teachers really care about me” (3.47). By contrast, elementary responses to “students bully one another” averaged 2.81 (the presenters said a lower score is preferable for that item) and the item “I am bored in school” averaged 2.42 (again, lower is preferable for that item).

Staff survey results (43 questions) produced a district staff average of 3.13, with staff reporting student support at 3.31, safe climate at 3.28 and SEL at 2.71. Dr. Hughes said staff responses reflected that many employees view the district as a welcoming environment (3.43 on that item) while noting staff perceived students do not always treat one another with respect (2.89 on that item).

Presenters and board members discussed response rates and data reliability. The presenters said 495 elementary students in grades 4–6 completed the fall student survey. The district supplied longitudinal respondent counts for some years (572 in 2018; 451 in winter 2021; later totals near 508, 457 and 494 were shown in the slides). Parent participation in the fall survey was 243 total districtwide, broken down as 159 elementary parents, 32 middle‑school parents and 52 high‑school parents; presenters urged parents to complete the spring survey to improve reliability.

Board discussion focused on interpretation and next steps. Board director Joseph Wilson asked whether building‑level data were available; presenters said building‑level breakdowns were provided to board directors in a Google Sheet. Board director Nathan Henkel raised questions about which survey items are primarily influenced by home versus school factors and flagged the small middle‑school parent sample (32) when interpreting results. The presenters said the district uses multiple ongoing data sources through its High Reliability Schools (HRS) practices and monthly reporting to supplement the twice‑yearly PDE climate surveys.

Presenters also explained scoring conventions when board members asked: the Likert scale ranges from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree), and PDE uses thresholds such as 3.4 for agreement and 2.5 for contradiction. The presenters noted that some item interpretations require inverting a high score (for example, for a negatively worded item such as “students bully one another”), and that the state’s scoring conventions generate the composite averages the district reported.

The presenters closed by reiterating that the district will continue monthly HRS data collection and will administer the PDE climate survey again in May to compare fall and spring results. Dr. Repper said, “If we know about it, we could do something about it,” and asked the board to encourage broader parent participation in the spring survey.

Ending: The board had no formal action on the presentation; the meeting moved on after questions and comments.