A school climate survey is a structured questionnaire administered to students, staff, and sometimes families to measure perceptions of the school environment. These surveys assess multiple dimensions: physical and emotional safety, quality of relationships, teaching and learning conditions, respect and fairness, engagement, and overall satisfaction with the school experience.

Effective school climate surveys use validated instruments that measure research-backed dimensions. Common frameworks include the National School Climate Center's model (safety, relationships, teaching and learning, environment) and the U.S. Department of Education's EDSCLS (engagement, safety, environment). Questions typically use Likert scales ("strongly disagree" to "strongly agree") with some open-ended responses for qualitative insights.

Traditionally, schools administer comprehensive climate surveys annually—often 40-80 questions covering all dimensions. However, this approach has limitations: results arrive too late to address current-year concerns, annual administration misses seasonal patterns, and lengthy surveys create fatigue reducing response quality. Increasingly, schools supplement or replace annual surveys with pulse check-ins: brief, frequent surveys (5-10 questions every few weeks) that track core climate indicators in real-time.

For charter and private schools, climate surveys serve strategic purposes beyond school improvement—they identify retention risks by surfacing student dissatisfaction, disconnection, or safety concerns before families withdraw.