Whitnall board reviews spring student engagement survey; staff note small year-to-year changes and areas for action

Whitnall School District staff presented spring 2025 student engagement survey results at the board meeting, reporting mostly stable perceptions across the district and identifying areas for improvement in peer and staff-student respect.

The survey matters because it measures students' perceptions in three district values—advancement, belonging and courage—and informs building- and district-level action plans tied to the new strategic plan.

Jackie, a district staff member who co-presented the survey results, said the district invited students in grades 3—12 to participate and that 388 students left open-ended comments. "Our most common negative themes are very similar to negative themes that we've seen over the last couple of years: Number 1 is students don't get along or the students are mean to me," she said. "Our most common positive themes are 'I like this school' and 'I like the teachers at this school.'"

Presenters said the top three positively rated items were: willingness to report a threat to school safety; teacher expectations that students do their best; and students knowing who to talk to about danger. The lowest-rated items were (by theme): students treating staff with respect; students treating other students with respect; and students solving problems with other students by talking to them.

Staff said small declines year-to-year (around one percentage point) are within expected variation and that more meaningful changes are visible over a two-year span. "When we look specifically at our change over the last 2 years in those values of belonging and courage, especially in that value of courage, that's really excellent to see," Jackie said, noting a roughly 5 percent improvement in student respect themes over two years.

The district described next steps: building leaders will use the survey to craft local action plans; the district will continue measuring the same value constructs to track progress; and staff will use comment analysis to identify targeted supports. Presenters said they coded comments as positive, neutral and negative and that many comments contained mixed positive-and-negative feedback that required dual coding.

Board members asked about developmental trends. Jackie said responses typically form a bell curve across grade levels: higher positivity in elementary grades, more peer conflict in middle school, then improvements in upper grades. Presenters said the results will be referenced in the forthcoming strategic plan and used to inform safety and conflict-resolution initiatives.

This agenda item was informational; no vote was taken.