Owen J. Roberts SD climate survey shows modest gains overall; board flags decline for Black middle‑school students

At a working session of the Owen J. Roberts School District board of directors, district staff and a CCIU consultant presented results from the Pennsylvania Department of Education school‑climate survey showing modest improvements across most stakeholder groups but a notable lag for Black middle‑school students.

Derek Klein of the CCIU, who led the presentation, said the survey measures three domains (social‑emotional learning, student support and safe/respectful climate) on a 1–4 scale and noted thresholds the board should use to interpret mean scores. He reported that elementary students showed particularly strong results for physical safety and relationships with staff, while middle‑school scores were lower overall and high‑school scores have trended up.

Klein highlighted subgroup trends by race: "for the most part an increase from last year," he said for several groups, but he and board members acknowledged that the Black/African‑American middle‑school subgroup showed a small decline that the board described as "glaring" and said requires building‑level follow up. A committee member who spoke as a parent and board member said the pattern—"if all but one group went up and one went down, that's a focus area"—makes targeted work a district priority.

Board members also pressed staff for more granular data. Mrs. Saba asked for cross‑tabulations by race and gender and for participation rates by subgroup and building; presenters confirmed the district can provide building‑level and subgroup participation counts and the full report includes item‑level percentages.

The presentation included several other operational details the board flagged: high‑school participation rose by more than 250 responses (reported roughly from 830 to 1,088), staff participation held steady in the mid‑300s over three years, and parent participation declined markedly (reported counts: 766 in 2024; 368 in 2025; 178 in 2026). Klein and staff cautioned that some subgroup sample sizes are small, which can magnify year‑to‑year variance, but they agreed the Black middle‑school result warrants focused investigation at the building level.

Board members also questioned how the PDE scoring model translates into percent‑agree metrics; Klein said the American Institutes for Research calculates means and the district can share item‑level percentages from the detailed report. Several members urged the district to present disaggregated data by grade and demographic group when the board revisits goals.

District leaders noted ongoing responses tied to the survey, including restorative practices, ninth‑grade seminar expansion and exploration of tier‑2 counselor pilots, and said principals are using the data to set building goals.

The board did not take formal action at the meeting; members asked staff to provide the requested subgroup and participation breakdowns and to include the findings when the district sets goals for the coming year.