Arlington ISD reports higher student survey engagement, expands mental-health supports after results

ARLINGTON, Texas — District staff told trustees on Dec. 11 that Arlington ISD strengthened survey administration and saw higher response rates and modest gains on its Student Engagement and Well-being Index (SUI).

Director Janae Stewart presented the 2024'025 student survey: the district increased its stratified-sample engagement rate from 41.3% to 68.1% and the SUI rose from 2.7 to 2.8 on a four-point scale. Stewart cautioned that the larger and different cohort of respondents may account for some change and encouraged readers to use multiple interpretations when comparing year-to-year results.

Staff outlined concrete responses to survey items. The district increased counselor capacity, expanded the care clinic teletherapy offerings (described as state-licensed therapists available at no cost), added more bilingual counselors in Spanish and Vietnamese, and grew the Hope Squad program from 19 to 27 campuses. Stewart described campus-level practices tied to measured gains: Ferrell increased a critical thinking item from 61.6% to 82.5% after integrating weekly social-emotional lessons; Bowie High raised a longstanding low-scoring item on managing feelings from 51.1% to 73%; Arlington High increased the share of students reporting at least one adult to talk to when unsafe from 67% to 84.4%.

Stewart said detailed, campus-disaggregated item-level data will be posted in the board bulletin and a dashboard link would be available to trustees and the public the following day.