WCPS presents survey showing gains in perceived school quality, safety and staff engagement

Washington County Public Schools staff presented results from the 2025–26 district engagement survey, reporting increases in parents’, staff’s and students’ perceptions of overall school quality, safety and community engagement.

An executive director summarized participation and headline results: “We had about 3,000 parents and guardians that responded, 1,500 staff members, and about 3,500 students,” the presenter said. Staff highlighted gains in areas including overall quality, students enjoying coming to school and increases in perceptions of safety and respectful behavior.

Presenters said the survey combined responses from parents/guardians, staff and students and that most of the increases were small percentage point gains. Staff noted biggest gains where parents and staff said they felt schools were safer and that students treated teachers and each other with more respect. For staff responses, the presenter pointed to an increase in ‘excellent’ ratings from 17% to 26%.

Board members asked for disaggregation by school, student age and poverty indicators to ensure the increases reflected systemwide improvement rather than concentrated gains in a subset of schools. One board member asked, “Is it possible for us to get that breakdown of schools so we know that?” The presenter replied that school‑level breakdowns exist and that executive staff and principals use this data in school improvement planning.

Staff said the results include responses from grades 4–12 and that Title I and community school populations yielded relatively high response rates because of targeted outreach. Staff suggested follow‑up work with schools to address weaker areas and offered to return with disaggregated reports.

Next steps: staff will provide school‑level breakdowns and continue to integrate survey results into school improvement plans.