The Quality of School Climate and Safety indicator is one of the state indicators in Kentucky's accountability system. The indicator uses perception data from surveys that measure insight into the school environment. For each state indicator, there are five Status Levels, ranging from very high to very low and five Change Levels, ranging from increased significantly to declined significantly. Indicator color ratings are based on the combination of Status and Change using a 5 X 5 table.
The Quality of School Climate and Safety survey contains two forms: Grades 3-5 and Grades 6-High School. Each form contains 27 statements for which students are prompted to respond whether they strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree.
All students in tested grades participate in the surveys.
The Quality of School Climate and Safety survey is provided for information purposes only. The Kentucky Department of Education is the owner of the Quality of School Climate and Safety survey and does not consent to school districts administering the survey, in full or any part thereof, outside of the administration of the Kentucky Summative Assessments.
The survey items are available for each form:
The survey is modified and number of items reduced for students who participate in the Alternate Assessment program (10 QSCS Survey items).
Kentucky’s school accountability system will be amended based on changes required by Senate Bill 158, 2020. The bill amends KRS 158.6455, Section 1 to create an accountability system that shall include an annual meaningful differentiation of all public schools in the state using multiple measures that describe the overall performance of each district, school and student demographic group.
Visit the Accountability and the Development of School Accountability System pages for more information on Kentucky’s Accountability System.