More than 13,000 Voices Help La Joya ISD Set Baseline for Growth, Identify Strengths and Drive Next Steps

La Joya, TX - When La Joya ISD asked students, families and employees to share their experiences through its first full districtwide climate survey, more than 13,800 voices answered - giving the District a comprehensive look at where its schools are succeeding, where challenges remain and where its work must go next.

Results from the Spring 2026 District Climate Survey show strong levels of family confidence and student perceptions of school safety, while also identifying opportunities to strengthen the experience of secondary students and families and improve support and responsiveness for employees.

A total of 13,834 surveys were completed, including 8,444 student responses and 3,278 family responses from all 34 campuses, along with feedback from teachers, school staff and district office employees. The results establish a baseline that La Joya ISD will use to measure progress over time and support goals within its Achieving Excellence Together 2030 Strategic Plan.

“This survey was never about looking for one number or only celebrating the results we wanted to see,” said Dr. Derek Little, Deputy Superintendent for La Joya ISD. “We asked our students, families and employees to tell us about their experiences because their voices matter. Nearly 14,000 responses give us an incredibly valuable starting point. We now have data that shows us what is working, where experiences differ and, most importantly, where we need to take action.”

Among the strongest results were responses from La Joya ISD families. Districtwide, family survey topics ranged from 78% to 87% favorable, with 87% favorable responses related to barriers to engagement, 84% for staff and family relationships, 80% for school-family communication and 78% for school climate.

Family feedback also shows that 9 in 10 families indicated that an unwelcoming school environment is not a problem, while 89% reported that school staff are respectful.

The survey also found encouraging results related to student perceptions of safety. Among students in grades 3-5, school safety received a 74% favorable rating, placing results in the 90th percentile nationally compared with participating schools at the same level. Students in grades 6-8 reported 58% favorable perceptions of school safety, approximately the 70th percentile nationally, while students in grades 9-12 reported 62% favorable perceptions, approximately the 60th percentile nationally.

The survey also identified clear areas for continued growth. Student and family perceptions of school climate generally declined as students progressed into middle and high school. Among families, favorable school-climate responses ranged from 85% at the elementary level to 55% at the high school level. Secondary students also reported lower favorable scores in school climate, belonging and career exploration.

Employee feedback identified additional opportunities, particularly around central office support and responsiveness. Teachers reported a 34% favorable rating for central office customer service, while school staff rated campus leadership more positively, including a 78% favorable rating for school leadership.

Rather than viewing those findings in isolation, District leaders are using them to establish specific priorities for improvement.

“We have to be willing to celebrate our strengths and confront our gaps with the same level of transparency,” Little said. “If our secondary students are telling us they feel less connected as they get older, we need to understand why and respond. If our teachers are telling us they need stronger support from central office, we need to improve that experience. Listening only matters if it leads to action.”

The District has already identified five next steps ahead of the next survey cycle: sharing campus-level results with stakeholders; expanding opportunities for secondary students to have meaningful conversations with adults about their futures; improving central office customer service and response expectations; focusing additional attention on belonging and school climate at the secondary level; and administering the survey again to measure progress against the Spring 2026 baseline.

Each campus will also receive access to its individual results, allowing school leaders to examine responses across topics and demographic groups and compare results with national and peer benchmarks while maintaining respondent confidentiality.

Several Strategic Plan measures are already meeting established targets. Family satisfaction with communication and service reached the District's 80% target, while family sense of connection to their school reached 84%, exceeding the 80% target. Other measures, including student belonging and well-being, employee satisfaction with leadership, and staff satisfaction with growth and recognition, now have clearly established baselines from which the District can measure progress.

The Spring 2026 survey also established an 83% favorable family engagement baseline for the Performance Evaluation Index, with 24 campuses meeting or exceeding the 75% benchmark.

For La Joya ISD, the survey represents more than a collection of percentages. It creates a mechanism for accountability - allowing the Board of Trustees, District leadership and community to measure whether the experiences of students, families and employees improve over time.

“Our community trusted us with their feedback, and now it is our responsibility to show them what we do with it,” Little said. “This is our baseline, not our finish line. We will continue listening, taking action and measuring our progress because achieving excellence together requires us to understand the experiences of the people we serve.”

The District plans to repeat the climate survey, allowing La Joya ISD to measure progress against the Spring 2026 baseline and provide the Board and community with a transparent look at areas of growth and continued need.