GIPS presents climate, culture and SEL survey results; staff to use data for school improvement

Grand Island Public Schools administrators presented a review of 2024–25 social-emotional learning (SEL) and climate data to the Board of Education on Sept. 11, saying results were largely stable and that staff will use the findings to guide building-level improvements.

Doctor Summer Stevens presented results from the Panorama SEL competencies survey (administered since 2018) and a piloted School Climate, Culture and Communication survey given last spring to students, staff and families. "We use this information from the social emotional learning, competency survey to work on building school improvement plans," Stevens said.

Key figures Stevens provided included roughly 5,300 student responses (students in grades 3–12 complete the survey), about 788 staff responses and 591 family responses to the piloted survey. She said high school participation was lower — about 43% of high-school students took the instruments — and that lower participation at older grades makes it harder to capture full feedback from that population.

The Panorama instrument measures five SEL domains. Stevens reported district favorable response rates in spring across example items: supportive relationships (about 89% at elementary), self-management (73%), social awareness (72%), positive feelings (68%) and challenging feelings (62%). She described year-to-year movement as small and said some metrics rose while others declined modestly compared with earlier administrations.

Stevens said the piloted climate survey asked aligned questions of students, families and staff across areas including relationships and connectedness, attendance, learning/curriculum, safety/mental health and communication. She noted the survey is not anonymous for students (students log in with user IDs) and said counselors review construct-response items and follow up when responses indicate concern.

Among next steps, Stevens said the district will: - Crosswalk the piloted climate survey with SEL competencies so building teams can target improvements; - Add a staff survey item about whether coming to work every day is important to them (the attendance item was inadvertently omitted in the pilot and will be added next year); - Explore earlier screening tools (similar to universal screeners for reading and math) to identify students with SEL needs; and - Continue to share and act on survey results at building teams, giving examples where a school used student feedback (about building cleanliness) to direct custodian/facilities work over the summer.

Board members asked for participation-rate detail and commended staff for using data to drive building-level changes. Stevens said district leaders will keep refining the instruments and increase family participation outreach.

The presentation appeared under agenda item 6.3; it was an informational item and did not require board action.