All district schools, including alternative schools that fall under the district’s domain, are required to participate in a survey of learning conditions annually.

Research shows that a positive school climate directly impacts telling indicators for success such as higher student achievement, lower dropout rates, decreased incidences of violence, and increased teacher retention.

Measuring school climate is a data driven strategy that recognizes the social, emotional and civic as well as intellectual aspects of K-12 student learning. Measuring school climate is also an effective strategy that engages students, parents/guardians, school personnel and community members learning and working together to create safe, supportive, engaging, helpfully challenging and joyful K-12 schools.

The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends school climate reform as a scientifically sound strategy that promotes healthy relationships, school connectedness and dropout prevention. The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) includes school climate as a strategy for drop out prevention. And, the U.S Department of Education recommends school climate reform as an evidence-based strategy to prevent violence. In fact, the U.S. Department of Education is investing in school climate improvement efforts as a fundamentally important school reform strategy.

The CSCI was developed over a period of several years, building on theoretical and survey work done in the field of social and emotional education. In 2007, NSCC extensively tested the survey, using factor analysis and structural equation modeling to validate the sub-scales and confirm our theoretical model of school climate. With this data, they were able to determine whether questions grouped in the way they predicted and whether similar patterns existed across schools and groups of students, providing an empirical "seal of approval" for the CSCI. (NSCC, 2019)