This past spring, our students, parents, and staff came together to participate in the annual Cognia Survey. These surveys give us an invaluable, honest look at what we are doing well and where we can target our energy to make Pine Mountain an even better place to learn, work, and grow.
The results are in, and they paint a picture of a school community defined by exceptionally high standards, deep mutual trust, and a clear roadmap for future growth.
To help put these numbers in perspective, the survey uses a standard 1-to-5 scale where a 4.00 represents a clear "Agree" and 5.00 represents "Strongly Agree." We are incredibly proud to share that nearly every single category answered by parents and staff met or exceeded this high threshold of approval!
Celebrating Our Strengths: High Standards & Strong Trust
One thing is crystal clear: Pine Mountain is a school that believes in the potential of every student, and our community has immense confidence in our mission.
Belief in Our Students: Our students know we believe in them. The highest-rated item on the student survey was, "In my school, the principal and teachers have high expectations of me" (scoring a stellar 4.00 out of 5.00).
A Shared, Clear Vision: Both parents and staff ranked our commitment to student success as our ultimate strength. Parents rated our focus on success at a high 4.38/5.00, and our staff rated it at an incredible 4.66/5.00.
Clear Roadmaps for Learning: Students and parents agree that teachers do an excellent job explaining daily expectations, with parents rating "My child knows the expectations for learning in all classes" at a highly positive 4.35/5.00.
Overall, parent confidence is exceptionally high, yielding an average score of 4.19/5.00 across the entire survey. Our staff echoed this deep satisfaction, with an overall average score of 4.33/5.00.
Going From "Good to Great"
Because our parents and staff gave almost every category a positive rating of 4.00 or higher, our "growth areas" are not points of failure—they are opportunities to take solid, successful programs and make them even better.
1. Enhancing Support for Personalized Learning
Our community agrees that we do a good job overall, but we want to stretch ourselves further when it comes to tailoring learning to individual student needs.
Our staff expressed a strong, positive baseline of 4.11/5.00 regarding their ability to personalize lessons.
Parents backed this up with a solid 4.00/5.00 ("Agree") rating.
Students rated this area at a 3.04/5.00.
Because we are already starting from a positive baseline with our teachers and parents, our goal this year is to give our staff the extra dedicated time to plan time to tailor learning to individual student needs to push these scores from "good" to "excellent"!
2. A Shared Model of Accountability
Trust between our staff and leadership is incredibly strong. Staff members strongly agree that school leaders hold the faculty to high standards of student learning (scoring 4.34/5.00).
Equally important, staff also expressed a clear "Agree" rating of 4.00/5.00 when asked if leaders hold themselves accountable. This shows a healthy, respectful relationship between teachers and administrators. Moving forward, school leadership is committed to making their own accountability and support processes even more visible to staff to keep building on this trust.
Understanding Our Student Culture: Perceptions vs. Daily Reality
The most candid feedback in our survey came directly from our students, who shared that peer-to-peer respect, care for school property, and kindness are areas they want to see improved:
Students rated "respecting the property of others" at 2.59/5.00.
Students rated "treating each other with respect" at 2.86/5.00.
When we cross-reference this "perceptual" survey data with our actual discipline referral records from the school year, we find a direct connection. Out of the school’s total behavioral referrals, approximately 43% were tied to peer-to-peer friction, such as students keeping their hands to themselves, using proper language in public, and not bothering items that do not personally belong to them.
This is why we are continuing to focus on our "Expect Respect" anti-bullying campaign and student lessons on our school's core values of commitment, leadership, integrity, mindfulness, and balance.
Putting the Data in Perspective
While managing peer conflict and property incidents over a school year is something we are actively addressing, the overall daily reality at Pine Mountain remains overwhelmingly positive, safe, and orderly.
When we look at the math across our student body of 509 students attending school over 178 days, the data tells a highly reassuring story:
The peer conflicts and property issues highlighted by students translate to an average of just 1.12 incidents per day across the entire campus.
Pine Mountain students maintain a 99.49% incident-free rate every single day. This is why we are able to keep flowers on the cafeteria tables every day, keep scented soaps and lotions in student restrooms, provide our students with the "home-like" furnishings inside and outside the school, and monitor whether or not toilets are flushed and students are cleaning up after themselves during lunch.
The vast majority of our 509 students went the entire 178-day school year with zero disciplinary infractions.
Our Plan of Action
We are incredibly proud of our students' positive behavior. However, because our students have expressed a desire for an even more respectful social environment, we will continue to address their feedback.
This school year, we are partnering directly with student leaders, counselors, and staff to launch peer-mentorship groups and positive behavior initiatives. Our goal is to ensure that our students’ experience of peer respect rises to match the actual, high-safety daily reality of our school.
Thank you to everyone who shared their voice and responded to the 2025-2026 school year survey. We look forward to partnering with you as we put these insights into action for an even more amazing 2027-2027 school year!
