Eau Claire district reports gains on student climate survey after school-level changes

The Eau Claire Area School District reported measurable improvements on its spring student climate survey after district and building-level efforts to strengthen social and emotional learning.

Executive Director Mandy Van Fleet told the Board of Education that the district’s supportive learning environment framework and a set of continuous-improvement strategies corresponded with gains in March survey responses, and that a universal SEL screener (SABERS) was introduced this year to give schools additional, actionable data.

The report matters because Board policy R4 (citizen of a diverse community) uses student-climate measures as a key performance indicator, and the district said improvements — especially among historically marginalized students — can signal better daily experiences and long-term outcomes.

Van Fleet said district results show “encouraging gains” after a disappointing fall report, and she described district-level steps including embedding SEL competencies into curriculum, rolling out a universal SEL screener (SABERS — social, academic, emotional behavior risk screener), and aligning professional learning for adult practices across schools. She noted the SABERS implementation this year could produce additional monitoring data in future reports.

At the school level, Luke Stordahl,…