Arlington ISD on Thursday presented results from its 2024–25 student survey, reporting a substantial increase in participation and modest gains on a newly framed Student Engagement & Well‑being Index (SUI).

Doctor Janaya Stewart told trustees that changes to survey administration raised the engagement rate from 41.3% to 68.1% among the sampled grades (6, 8, 10 and 12). "We strengthened our survey administration fidelity, and that allowed us to yield results that are more representative," Stewart said.

The district SUI increased from 2.7 to 2.8 on a four-point scale. Stewart emphasized that the rise likely reflects a combination of small gains across many students, a larger and more representative sample, and campus-level efforts. She cited campus examples tied to measurable gains: Duff increased the item “adult at my school really care about students” from 80% to 92.5% by greeting students and hosting counselor lunch groups; Ferrell raised a critical-thinking item from 61.6% to 82.5% after integrating weekly SEL lessons and reviving student council; Bowie High improved on emotional-management items from 51.1% to 73% with character-education and trauma-informed practices.

District-level responses included expanding counseling capacity, offering parent-approved teletherapy, growing Hope Squad from 19 to 27 campuses, and delivering districtwide behavior-support training aligned with PBIS and restorative practices. Stewart said item-level, campus-disaggregated data will be available in a board bulletin and an interactive dashboard.

Trustees asked for clarification on cohort tracking and sample consistency; staff said the same grade levels will be surveyed annually to enable longitudinal comparison by grade cohort.

No action was taken; trustees thanked staff and noted plans to review the dashboard when it publishes.