The LPS Board of Education recently heard a presentation on the results of the 2025–2026 LPS Climate, Safety, and Wellness Inventory (CSWI). This year over 8,000 LPS students participated, representing the highest response rate since 2017 and including input from 86 percent of all students in Grades 3–12. This valuable feedback helps the district and schools to create and maintain safe, welcoming, and healthy school communities.
Across all grade levels, students are reporting a stronger sense of belonging than in previous years, a metric that continues to trend upward. These results are important because belonging has been identified as one of the priorities of the LPS Unified Improvement Plan. This increase is also reflected in the overall perception of mental health, which has seen a 6 percent increase at the elementary level and a robust 10 percent jump in both middle and high school levels.
Strengthening Foundations in Elementary School
At the elementary level, the data highlight an increase in school climate centered on connection. There has been a measurable increase in the quality of teacher-student relationships, supported by a 7 percent rise in students feeling that adults in their school treat everyone fairly. Encouragingly, 90 percent of elementary students in Grades 3–5 report that they have fun while learning.
Support Systems and Modern Challenges
As students transition into middle school, we know the connection to a caring adult is important. This year, 95 percent of middle schoolers report having a dependable adult—either inside or outside of school—whom they can count on no matter what.
However, the data also reveal a distinct digital divide in student wellness. Across both elementary and middle school, students who own their own cell phones consistently report less favorable experiences regarding their health and wellness and their relationships with teachers compared to their peers without personal devices. This changes in high school, where students who don’t have their own cell phone report significantly more challenges in the survey sections of mental health and school safety and bullying.
Support for managing stress continues to be the top request when secondary students are asked what they would like to learn more about at school.
Key Drivers of Success and Areas for Growth
One of the most consistent predictors of student success is engagement beyond the classroom. Regardless of grade level, students who participate in extracurricular activities—whether school-sponsored or community-based—report significantly more favorable perceptions across every survey measure.
Despite these broad gains, the district remains deeply committed to closing gaps for specific populations that consistently report less positive perceptions of the school and their own well-being. Current initiatives are focused on improving outcomes for subgroups, including specific race and ethnic groups, students who identify as LGBTQ+, students receiving special education services, and students whose first language is not English. The primary focus for these groups remains on elevating data within the critical areas of school safety and bullying, health and wellness, mental health, and the continued cultivation of teacher-student relationships.
Schools and programs across LPS continue to review their survey data and brainstorm ways to share information with their communities, including creative ways to engage student voices in planning for next steps.
For full reports, open the School Climate, Safety, and Wellness Survey content on the Social, Emotional, and Behavior Services webpage.