Thriving Students

Grades 5-12

To develop the student surveys, Fig first conducted focus groups with 34 students, aged 11 to 18, between December 2022 and May 2025. The semi-structured protocol asked students what helped them “feel good” in school. The diverse group of students (16 Black or African American, 12 white, 5 Latine, and 1 Native American) attended a range of schools in Washington State and Virginia: an alternative high school; two low-performing, public middle schools; a Christian middle school; and two college preparatory independent high schools.  

 

Across our sample, students said they wanted a school environment that sets high expectations and helps them feel successful, promotes a feeling of connection among students and adults, and gives them voice and choice. Their responses align with two academic motivation theories: Expectancy-Value Theory and Self-Determination Theory.

 

The Thriving Students Survey measures student wellbeing in school and life (operationalized as Subjective Well-Being) and measures student perception that their learning environment supports needs for peer relatedness, student-teacher relatedness, autonomy, competency, and value.​

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Our current survey has three four-item scales predictive of school satisfaction: Peer Relatedness, Student-Teacher Relationships, Supported Autonomy, and Meaningful Learning.  All three have good factor loadings (≥ 0.68, p < .001) and strong model fit. Internal consistency was high for all scales (α = 0.82–0.87, Ω = 0.85–0.89). The three scales are strongly predictive of school satisfaction; Meaningful Learning and Relational Safety also moderately predictive of life satisfaction. We are in the midst of re-testing the survey, with a new scale for student-adult relatedness.​​​

 

Fig can modify our survey for use with students in grades 3-4.