Overview
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) has prioritized research about school climate and the use of such research to develop more effective policy and school practices. The ED School Climate Surveys (EDSCLS) are a suite of survey instruments that were developed for schools, districts, and states by NCES. This NCES effort extends activities to measure and support school climate by ED’s Office of Safe and Healthy Students (OSHS). Through the EDSCLS, schools nationwide have access to survey instruments and a survey platform that allows for the collection and reporting of school climate data across stakeholders at the local level. The surveys can be used to produce school-, district-, and state-level scores on various indicators of school climate from the perspectives of students, teachers, non-instructional school staff, principals, and parents/guardians. NCES has also developed psychometric benchmarks to enable meaningful comparisons between student subgroups, and between schools. For more details about the EDSCLS platform, please visit: http://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/edscls
Questionnaires
The EDSCLS national benchmark study questionnaires for students, instructional staff, and noninstructional staff/principal cover 3 domains and 13 topics. Figure 1 shows the EDSCLS domains and topics. The questions in the EDSCLS are not of a sensitive nature and should not pose sensitivity concerns to respondents. All survey questions are focused on the perceptions of respondents regarding various aspects of school climate. Questionnaires are available in PDF format through the links below.
