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Upbeat survey: Sweetwater schools report high staff engagement and areas to recruit and retain teachers
Summary
Upbeat consultants told the Sweetwater County School District #1 board that teacher participation in their engagement survey was 93% and that several categories (self-efficacy, care and commitment, PD) showed year-over-year gains; identified ongoing needs include teacher staffing, employee voice and consistent professional development.
Upbeat consultants presented survey results and coaching outcomes to the board April 13, reporting high staff participation and measurable gains in multiple engagement categories that the firm said correlate with improved teacher retention and student outcomes.
Kylie Shap Davis, Upbeat chief operating officer, summarized the partnership: "You all started the partnership in the spring of 2023 ... Since the beginning of the partnership, you all have administered six engagement surveys," she said, noting more than 2,000 teacher and staff responses over the partnership. Kim Marucchi and Dave Gaston, both former school leaders on Upbeat's coaching team, walked trustees through category results and school-leader data.
Key results presented included a 93% teacher participation rate in the fall administration, sizable improvements in domains such as self-efficacy and care & commitment (multiple single- and double-digit percentage gains reported year-over-year), and a principal/assistant-principal participation rate of 100%. Upbeat highlighted that coach-led action plans and school-level work produced 95% of selected focus areas showing growth from fall 2024 to fall 2025.
The consultants framed continued work around three priorities they said the district should emphasize: empowering school leaders, aligning strategic planning and building partnerships for staffing and community outreach. The boardquestion-and-answer period focused on teacher recruitment and retention tactics for rural districts: Upbeat recommended translating survey strengths into a succinct recruitment narrative ("here's why teachers stay") and pursuing 'grow-your-own' pipelines with local postsecondary partners.
Upbeat also reported strong exit-survey completion this academic year (about 83% for teachers so far), which the consultants said provides actionable data on why staff leave and where to target retention efforts.
Trustees said they valued the data-driven coaching approach and asked Upbeat to provide comparative cross-tabs (e.g., aligning school-leader and classroom-teacher responses on key questions), as well as candidate-facing recruitment materials drawn from the district's survey strengths.
