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Evaluation

During stage two of the School Climate Improvement Process (Evaluation), school climate teams identify and examine existing data, and collect new data which enables them to evaluate and prioritize school climate-related needs.

School climate improvement requires attention to more than the school's test scores or discipline statistics. While these types of data are important indicators of a school's effectiveness, the climate of a school is reflected in stakeholders' perceptions of the school's safety, the learning environment, and patterns of engagement in the school (National Center for Safe and Supportive Learning Environments).

School climate teams should consider attendance and academic data, Student Assistance Program (SAP) data, office discipline referrals, and PA Youth Survey results, as well the results of annual school climate surveys administered to students, staff and parents. Resources to support teams in selecting measures of school climate are below.

School Climate Survey Compendium
The National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (NCSSLE) maintains a compendium of valid and reliable surveys, assessments, and scales of school climate that can assist educators in their efforts to identify and assess their conditions for learning.

Pennsylvania School Climate Survey (PASCS)
The PA School Climate Survey is a free suite of surveys provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Education - Office for Safe Schools. The online (student, teacher, parent, and community) surveys are available to all schools in the Commonwealth and are intended to provide educators with formative and summative climate data for use in improvement planning.

Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS)
The Pennsylvania Youth Survey is sponsored and conducted every two years by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD). Schools may use the PAYS to supplement other school climate related data and identify risk and protective factors impacting youth in their community.

ED School Climate Surveys
The U.S. Department of ​Education provides surveys for middle and high school students, their parents, teachers, instructional staff, non-instructional staff, and administrators on a web-based platform. The surveys can be downloaded free of charge and provide user-friendly school climate reports back to users. Local education agencies administering the survey will be able to store the data locally on their own data systems.