Burlington School Climate Survey Reveals Strong Connections Amid Gaps in Parent Involvement and Student Engagement

The 2025-26 School Climate survey for Burlington Public Schools is complete, and results point to a consistent experience for students, staff, and family over the last year with areas to celebrate and where the district will be focusing extra effort in the coming year.

The survey, which was conducted from February 3-13, 2026, recorded responses from more than 2,500 staff, parents, and students in grades 4-12 across multiple languages. Questions centered around respondents' experience in domains such as teaching and learning, interpersonal relationships, safety, and parental involvement; these questions were rated on a scale of "favorability," with each domain earning a percentage score.

Demographic questions to make comparisons across special education status, gender, and ethnicity were also included.

Christine Conceison, Director of Mental health for the district, presented these results to the School Committee and responded to their questions at their meetings on February 24 and March 17.

Safety, Connections Among Highest Scores

Overall, the favorability ratings among families have stayed steady or increased slightly since the survey was first administered two school years ago. The average score for this year was 76%, with school safety (83%) and teaching and learning (79%) earning high marks. Most parents and guardians also reported that they attended parent-teacher conferences (91%) and felt comfortable talking to teachers (87%). Notable increases in the family survey include "Teachers at my student's school promote academic success for all students" and "Teachers at my student's school work hard to make sure that students do well," which increased by 6% and 4%, respectively.

Among staff, the average rating was slightly lower at 71%, but this represents increases in a number of domains, including "feeling like an important part of the school" (a 10% increase) and "feeling supported by other teachers (an 8% increase). Staff connections and safety remain areas of strength, and every subtopic showed both a one-year and a two-year increase.

Elementary student responses earned an 84% rating, while secondary students rated their experience at 67.5% favorability. Connections with, and support from, adults were among the strongest responses for 4th and 5th grade students, while interpersonal relationships (treating others fairly, belief in helping others) and social learning and support scored highly at the middle and high school level.

Of note, the elementary scores have varied by up to 6% over the three administration years – for example, the statement "I feel like I do well in school" scored 5% lower this year than in the first year, and "Students treat each other well" jumping 6% between the first and second year but staying stagnant this year.

The middle school and high school students' favorability ratings went up on most measures; Physical Environment was an outlier, scoring 7% lower this year than last among high school students while staying the same among middle school students. Superintendent Dr. Conti theorized that the dip had to do with ongoing public discussions surrounding the attempt to secure funding for an addition-renovation at the high school – discussions which frequently pointed out the deficiencies in the current building.

Conceison said responses over the years highlight teacher support, the district's ParentSquare communication tool, social-emotional learning, and technology integration as overall areas of strength.

Parent Involvement Still Lags

For the third year in a row, parents' perceptions of how involved they are in their students' education scored lowest on their survey, and the staff survey results concur. Ratings in this area differed by student grade and race, said Conceison.

Aside from parent involvement, which scored under 50%, the staff survey revealed only 53% favorability for the statement "Students at my school demonstrate behaviors that allow teachers to teach, and students to learn."

The lowest scores among elementary students were in questions about identifying and knowing how to contact a School Resource Officer. This was a new question this year, and Conti acknowledged the district could do more to involve SROs at the elementary level, given how integrated he says the School Resource Officers are in the middle and high schools.

The only question whose response reached statistically-significant level of concern was a demographic difference in "I feel like I do well at school;" students identifying as Black/African American or Hispanic scored this statement lower than did their peers.

Notwithstanding the BHS explanation for why high school students scored the facilities' favorability low, other low spots included "Students in my school take pride in keeping our school building in good condition" (27% in grades 6-8; 36% in grades 9-12). "Most days I look forward to going to school" has been consistently low among middle and high schoolers and this year scored at 33% and 42%, respectively.

Looking at the survey results holistically over the last three years, Conceison called out needs for more consistent disciplinary procedures and restorative discipline, more effective academic differentiation (the effort to provide adequate instructional experiences for all students) and facility maintenance including bathroom cleanliness in secondary buildings.

District to Continue on Path to Improvement

Conceison and Conti credit the district's work over the last several years with the positive trends seen in the survey. Specific areas of strength, they said, are the elementary literacy curriculum adoption and associated professional development, expanded social emotional learning and mental health supports, and enhanced communications via ParentSquare.

Conceison said the survey results will be shared at the school level and discussed among district and school administration to develop action plans based on the information gathered. "In the past we have focused on parent/guardian communication and fostering a sense of belonging in our school, so we'll do the same thing this year in each of our individual schools and as a district admin team...to address the areas of need."

Specifically related to parent involvement, Conceison suggested the district would work on redefining and expanding opportunities, revisiting work from 2024-25 when there was an increased perception of parent involvement to be sure the district doesn't lose ground. She said the district can work to in-person engagement options while maintaining digital accessibility.

Dr. Conti said the survey results reflect alignment with the district's priorities and said one particular point of pride was the sense of physical safety and belonging. "Learning can't take place unless students feel safe and secure and that they belong," he said.

He went on to say the district will need to conduct a deeper analysis of demographic differences in survey responses and develop targeted support strategies for underserved student populations to ensure they feel as supported as their peers.

School Committee members were interested in looking deeper into the data. Meghan Nawoichik asked for the data to be broken out by elementary schools to analyze differences in favorability among them, while Jeremy Brooks said he'd like to know which schools had the highest satisfaction ratings in case the district could take lessons from those schools.

Christine Monaco was glad there are so many kids who think there's someone they can turn to but troubled by the racial differences in kids' perceptions of their success, while Katherine Bond wants to dig into the question of why kids – especially those in middle school – don't look forward to coming to school and gather information from parents about how they want to be involved.

Learn more about the School Climate Survey on the PBIS website.