District presents NJSCI school-climate results: 2,325 responses; student interpersonal behaviors flagged for improvement
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
The Haddonfield School District reported results from a new NJSCI survey with 2,325 responses across students, staff and parents; overall mean 3.12/4 with strengths in physical safety and belonging but consistent concerns about negative student interpersonal behaviors, particularly among some grade bands. The district will publish school-level slides and a stakeholder feedback form to prioritize goals.
The Haddonfield School District presented a district-wide school climate report based on the New Jersey School Climate Improvement Program (NJSCI) survey run May 23–June 5, which the presenter said generated 2,325 responses from students (grades 3–12), staff and parents.
The presenter summarized how the platform and scoring work: the survey uses a four-point Likert scale (closer to 4 indicates stronger performance) and allows respondents to skip questions; parents had the option to opt their children out. The district’s overall mean across domains was 3.12 out of 4; the presentation classified domain scores of 3.25 and above as strengths, 2.6–3.24 as "areas for growth," and 2.5 or below as "areas of concern." The presenter said primary strengths included a sense of physical safety, supportive staff-student relationships and student belonging (secondary mean 3.17; elementary mean 3.42).
The district identified negative student interpersonal behaviors (bullying, name-calling, exclusion) as the sole domain consistently flagged as an area of concern across parents, students and staff. The presenter noted age-related trends: some concerns were more pronounced in older grade bands, and there were perception gaps between staff and students (for example, staff rated student voice higher than students did). The presenter said staff-rated student-interpersonal behaviors lower than students in some bands, which was interpreted as staff seeing more issues or having different thresholds for concern.
Methodology details provided in the presentation included participation breakdowns (high participation among elementary grades where students are a captive audience, 60% staff response, and 17.5% parent response), and a note that Rutgers provides no normative statewide comparison data in the current NJSCI reports; the presenter said they had requested comparative benchmarks to contextualize results.
The district plans to publish school-level slide decks and to distribute a stakeholder feedback form inviting community input on priority goals. School-based climate teams (4–5 members) will use the quantitative and forthcoming qualitative feedback to develop building-level goals. The presenter framed next steps as collaborative: school principals will share disaggregated data with families, and the district will collect feedback to shape specific interventions focused on student interpersonal behavior, student voice and academic engagement.