HISD Families Report High Satisfaction in Winter 2025 Sentiment Survey

Houston ISD has released results from its Winter 2025 Family Sentiment Survey, showing strong overall satisfaction among families across the district. Over 90% of respondents reported a favorable perception of their experience with HISD across divisions, campus types, and demographic groups.

The Winter 2025 survey drew feedback from more than double the number of families in the Spring 2025 survey, which officials say strengthens the reliability of the findings and provides insight into where families see progress and where continued focus is needed.

“These results reflect the hard work of our educators, staff, and school leaders who are committed to student success every single day,” Superintendent Mike Miles said. “Families are seeing real improvement in their schools and across HISD. We're grateful for their confidence and will continue working to earn their trust.”

Participation Doubles, Representation Improves

The survey was distributed through the online platform ParentSquare, which requires no registration or action on behalf of the family to participate in the survey or receive other district communication. 

Family participation more than doubled compared to the Spring 2025 survey, rising from 4,493 to 11,008 households. Of the 42,851 families invited to participate, 25.7% completed the survey—meeting or exceeding research-backed response-rate standards used by the California Department of Education and the Georgia Department of Education for parent surveys.

HISD uses a stratified random sampling methodology, a research-based approach used by organizations such as the National Center for Education Statistics and the American Association for Public Opinion Research, which lends statistically valid, demographically representative results through several practices, including:

• Including every household with an enrolled student in the potential sample
• Surveying families from all campuses, with sample sizes proportional to enrollment
• Randomizing family selection to prevent human bias 
• Allowing only one response per household to avoid over-representation

Response rates were strongest at Roberts Elementary School at 53.8%, Oak Forest Elementary School at 53.5%, and Durham Elementary School at 53.2%. 

Key Findings

Families reported the highest levels of satisfaction in areas related to safety, communication, and academic expectations, including:

• 90.5% feel their children are physically safe and welcome at school
• 88.7% feel well-informed about school events and activities
• 87.1% believe their children are learning as much as expected and that the curriculum meets their needs

Overall favorability was highest among the 93% of Hispanic and Asian respondents. Meanwhile,  white families and those identifying as “other” expressed lower levels of satisfaction, particularly in overall favorability, which measured slightly under 85%.

Families at NES campuses reported stronger confidence in the district’s direction, with 77.8% favorability, compared to 62.3% among families at PUA (per student allotment) campuses. NES families also reported higher satisfaction with Special Education support and communication at 85.3% favorability compared to 79.9% at PUA campuses.

Areas for Continued Focus

Sawyer said overall district perception emerged as the area with the greatest opportunity for growth, posting a districtwide favorability rate of 67.2%. He said this domain recorded the highest proportion of neutral responses, indicating that many families may still be forming opinions about the district’s long-term direction.

"This data gives us both affirmation and responsibility,” Sawyer said. “Affirmation that our efforts are making a difference and the responsibility to act on what we've learned."
Sawyer said district leaders will use survey feedback to:

• Continue to improve teaching so students are better prepared for life after graduation
• Continue to provide  clearer, more consistent communication
• Give school leaders school-specific feedback to help principals better connect with their students, families, and communities

The survey will be administered again at the end of the spring semester to track trends and continue gathering feedback on school progress.