Your Voice Matters Survey Results Now Available

APS and the Arlington Partnership for Children, Youth and Families (APCYF) released the results for the 2025 Your Voice Matters survey (YVM), with an online dashboard of results available. The survey had more than 24,000 responses from students in grades 4-12, staff, and families who provided insight on topics that include school safety, climate, well-being, voice and engagement.

Survey findings inform work across the school division and the county. It provides APS with data to assess progress to date and new benchmarks for measuring progress. Key highlights by category are provided below.

Survey updates from the 2024 YVM

Following an after-action analysis of the 2024 YVM survey and meaningful engagement with APS families, staff, and community members, APS leadership approved an updated version of the YVM survey for 2025. The new YVM survey includes the following changes:

• Reduced questions on the student surveys,
• An anonymous format for the family survey, and
• Revised questions and response options to improve clarity across all surveys.

These changes were designed to help generate actionable data that supports continuous improvement and strategic planning efforts within APS and ACYPS. Because of these updates, the 2025 YVM survey results cannot be directly compared to those from the 2024 YVM survey.

Key Highlights

Student Well-Being

• 86% of Grade 4-5 students and 83% of Grade 6-12 students reported they have at least one adult in their school whom they can talk to about things that are important to them.
• 77% of Grade 4-12 students report favorably in the topic Social, Emotional, and Mental Health.

• • 34% of Grade 4-5 students were “so stressed that [they] stopped doing some of [their] daily activities.”
  • 19% of Grade 6-12 students felt “so sad and hopeless for almost every day two or more weeks in a row that [they] stopped doing some usual activities.” Of the subset of students who felt sad, empty, hopeless, angry, or anxious, 54% reported either “always,” “most of the time,” or “sometimes” that they got the help they needed.
• 76% of Grade 4 – 5 students and 80% of Grade 6 – 12 students report favorably on the topic School Safety.
  • 88% of Grade 4-5 students and 85% of Grade 6-12 students reported feeling safe at school:
  • More than 50% of Grade 4-5 students reported not experiencing bullying.
    • Of the subset of students who experienced bullying, 61% reported it to adults at their school and 67% felt adults at the school addressed the issue.
  • For secondary students, over 80% reported they did not experience bullying.
    • Of the subset of students who experienced bullying, 40% reported it to adults at their school and 49% felt adults at the school did something to solve the problem.
  • 85% of Grade 4 – 5 students and 86% of Grade 6 – 12 students report favorably in the topic School Climate.
    • 90% of Grade 6-12 students felt accepted and included as part of their school community.
    • 90% of Grade 4-5 students and 87% of Grade 6-12 students agreed or strongly agreed that they could go to at least one adult at school if they had a concern
    • 86% of Grade 4-5 and Grade 6-12 students reported their culture and history is represented in a positive way at their school

Student Success: High Expectations

• Students across all grade levels felt their teachers supported their growth in thinking and understanding, with Grade 4–5 students reporting high levels in Math (91%), ELA (90%), Science (90%), and Social Studies (90%), and secondary students reporting similarly in Math (84%), English (88%), Science (88%), and Social Studies (91%).
• 68% of Grade 4-5 students and 83% of Grade 6-12 students felt challenged by what they learn in class. 85% of APS families reported their student is appropriately challenged in class.
• 93% of secondary students felt included in the decision-making process when choosing my courses and 90% felt included in career pathways exploration at their school.

Partnerships

• APS families reported an 88% favorable rating in the topic Family Engagement. Moreover, 86% of families share they have opportunities at [their] student’s school to discuss issues around their student’s overall well-being beyond academics.
• 93% of APS Families reported that their student’s school is welcoming and inviting.
• 86% of APS families reported that teachers and staff at their student’s school communicate effectively with them
• 55% of APS families reported knowing who to contact at their student’s school if they needed community resources and services outside of APS.
• Of the 27% of APS families who were aware of a bullying incident, 54% felt the school addressed the issue when their student was bullied by another student.

Engaged Workforce

• Nine out of 10 staff enjoy working at APS and 85% see themselves still working in APS in two years.
• 79% of staff who reported having the materials and resources needed to do their best work.
• Workplace Climate favorability among school-based teachers/staff and FTE district staff varied from 78% to 83%. While 88% felt supported by their supervisors/administrators, 65% felt recognized for their work this school year.
• 59% of teachers, 72% of school-based staff, and 65% of FTE district staff reported Division-Wide professional learning has improved their professional practice.
• Approximately 75% of hourly and school-based teachers/staff felt there were pathways for leadership opportunities in their school or department, while 65% of FTE staff shared this view.
• Hourly (79%), FTE staff (60%), and school-based staff (56%) were more likely to report that they had opportunities to provide input on division-wide initiatives, compared to school-based teachers (49%).
• Staff surveys revealed that the topic Compensation and Benefits received relatively low favorability ratings, ranging from 52% to 58%. Staff with 0-3 years of experience had higher favorability in this category compared to veteran staff.
  • 45% of school-based teachers and staff and 50% of FTE district staff reported they were satisfied with their annual salary.
  • 46% of all staff were satisfied with the pay structure of their current salary scale.

Operational Safety

• Regarding building safety, 91-92% of non-teaching staff and 87% of teachers felt safe and secure in their work environment.
• 87% of non-teaching staff and 80% of teachers reported their work environment is well-maintained yet 67% of all staff shared their work environment was not negatively impacted by poor building conditions (heating, cooling, lighting).
• School-based teachers and staff reported high favorability (89% to 93%) when asked if they were familiar with APS policies and procedures related to expectations of student behavior.

Tips and Suggestions When Reviewing YVM Results

• Due to significant changes to the 2025 YVM survey, trend data from the 2024 YVM will not be available.
• To gain a deeper understanding of how different demographic groups answered each question, users can use the filters available at the top of each page to see responses by demographics.