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MCPS releases 2025 climate-survey results; district to administer survey twice yearly going forward
Summary
MCPS presented results from a streamlined 2025 climate survey showing strong signals of belonging in some areas but notable emerging and significant concerns—particularly in middle school responses about student respect, safety and the school 'energy.' The district said it will institute twice-yearly surveys to speed response to issues.
Montgomery County Public Schools presented results from a shortened, 2025 climate survey at the Sept. 4 board work session and announced the district will administer the survey twice a year going forward.
Dr. Keisha Addison explained that the revised survey asks 10–15 focused items per respondent group (students, staff and families). The spring 2025 window produced roughly 38,000 student responses (about 44.2 percent of the student population in the district's response pool), roughly 10,700 school-based staff responses (about 52 percent of school staff), 1,087 non–school-based staff (about 22 percent) and 8,216 family responses (about 5.1 percent). The district said the family response rate was lower than desired and outlined plans to increase outreach in future administrations.
Key findings and concerns: Students generally reported positive relationships with at least one adult at school, and staff said collaboration within teams is strong. However, several items rose to the level of "emerging concerns" or "significant concerns," especially in middle schools. Those concerns included: frequency of feedback for staff (roughly one in five staff said they do not receive frequent feedback), middle school students reporting that their school does not always feel safe, and a substantial share of middle-school respondents indicating disagreement with statements about respectful treatment across racial and cultural lines and about the energy in their school.
Dr. Moran said the district will use the twice-yearly administration to intervene faster: "The intervention being able to intervene early, and be able to have a comparison and a quick turnaround, I think is extremely advantageous," he told the board. He also emphasized that improving culture and climate is a leadership task for principals and that central services will support schools through cross-functional teams and targeted interventions.
Board members asked for more granular data, including school-level response rates, breakdowns by language and geography, and examples of "outlier" schools with especially high or low scores to identify replicable practices. The district said those school-level reports and response-rate detail would be posted to the public site and that staff would follow up with targeted support for low-response or low-scoring schools.
The district characterized the 2025 survey as a baseline for a two-wave annual cycle and said future results will be used to set school-improvement priorities and to inform principal evaluation and district strategic work.
