The Ed School Climate Surveys are four  different tests which measure wellbeing across four  populations: instructional staff, non-instructional staff,  middle to high school students (Grades 5-12), and parents. Each test covers three main domains: engagement, safety, and environment. The engagement domain measures three subtopics: cultural and linguistic competence, relationship, and school participation. The safety domain includes five: emotional safety, physical safety, bullying/cyberbullying, substance abuse, and emergency readiness/ management. The final domain, environment, measures subtopics of physical environment, instructional environment, physical health, mental health, and discipline. 

There are slight differences among the tests. The tests for students and parents do not measure physical health. The parent/guardian survey and the emergency management and readiness subtopic in the safety domain are not designed to produce overall scores but can be examined at the individual item level. The student survey has 73 items in an English and a Spanish version. The instructional staff survey has 83 items, the non-instructional staff survey has 104 (a few of them exclusively for principals), and the parent survey has 43 items in both Spanish and English versions.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (2016) Benchmark study, “The survey platform is designed to be downloadable free of charge and provides user-friendly school climate reports” (p.3). No permission is required. The reliability and validity of these surveys were tested throughout “16 sites, containing 50 public schools” (National Center for Education Statistics, 2016, p.3).

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