School Climate Survey: Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI)

Why are we launching a school climate survey at WCDSB?

The Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) is committed to providing safe, caring and inclusive places for everyone in our schools.  One way that we can find out how we are doing is to ask students about their health and well-being. To collect this information, we will administer the Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI).  This anonymous, online survey has been developed by researchers at the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) at the University of British Columbia (UBC), and the administration of the MDI will be facilitated by the WCDSB Research Team in cooperation with teachers and administrators.

The role of the WCDSB is to support the collection process for students and to make the best use of the information that is gathered. This is an opportunity for us to learn more about the students we support, and the data collected can help us to identify needs within our school communities.  All students between grade 4 and grade 12 will be invited to participate.

Notice of Collection

  • To comply with the Education Act s.169.1(1)(a), (a.1), (a.2) and PPM 145, the WCDSB is required to conduct school climate surveys of students at least once every two years as they play a key role in contributing to a positive school climate.
  • The Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI) is a survey created by the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) at the University of British Columbia (UBC). The Waterloo Catholic District School Board uses this survey to meet the requirements for its student-focused school climate surveys.
  • The purpose of the school climate survey (MDI) is to assess the perceptions of safety from students, make informed planning decisions about programs to help prevent bullying and promote safe and inclusive schools, determine the effectiveness of programs on an ongoing basis, and build and sustain a positive school climate.
  • No personal information will be collected from students on the survey (e.g., email, name, birthdate, student ID). Therefore, responses from the survey cannot be connected with information already held by the Board in our student information system.
  • Responses will be combined to create school-level and Board-level reports. To ensure that individuals cannot be identified from reporting of the demographic questions on the survey (e.g., Adults they live with, Number of siblings, Gender, School, Grade, Indigenous identity, Race, First language, and English proficiency), suppression will be used in cases where there are fewer than 10 students responding to a specific question or a combination of questions. This means that your child’s responses will always be reported as part of a larger group (10 or more students) so the chances of them being identified are greatly reduced.
  • The de-identified student responses from the WCDSB and the WRDSB will be combined to create a Waterloo Region summary report without identifying individual students and individual school boards.
  • Non-identifiable survey responses will be provided to the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) at the University of British Columbia (UBC) to include in a national database for research on children’s social and emotional development, well-being and health. Researchers at HELP, UBC will use this data to study trends over time and across regions, and to increase understanding of middle childhood development in Canada and the factors that support health and development.
  • No program, service or benefit may be withheld because a student does not participate, or refuses to participate, in the school climate (MDI) survey.
  • If you have questions about the school climate survey collection, please contact your school administrator, the WCDSB Research Coordinator (research@wcdsb.ca) or the WCDSB Privacy Records and Information Management Officer (privacy@wcdsb.ca) at 519-578-3660, or 35 Weber St. W., Unit A, Kitchener, ON N2J3Z1.

The Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) is using the Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI) to satisfy our requirement to conduct an anonymous school climate survey in accordance with the Education Act s.169.1(1)(a), (a.1), (a.2) and PPM 145.

The MDI is a self-report survey and is completed by children starting in grades 4 (i.e., Introduction to the MDI).  The MDI survey questions were developed by a research team at Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP), which is led by Dr. Kim Schonert-Reichl at the University of British Columbia.  For more information about how the MDI was developed, please visit MDI: The Middle Years Development Instrument – Overview

The survey asks students about their thoughts, feelings, and experiences in school and in the community.  Over the past years, the MDI has been edited and changed to reflect better ways of asking important questions and to respond to changes across the country. The WCDSB is using the 2024-2025 version of the MDI adapted to our faith-based education system. All of the questions on the MDI are related to the five areas of development that are strongly linked to well-being, health, and academic achievement:  Physical Health & Well-Being, Connectedness, Social & Emotional Development, School Experiences, and Use of After-School Time.

MDI Examples: Social & Emotional Development, Use of Out-Of-School Time, School Experiences, Connectedness, Physical Health & Well-being

To view the survey questions being asked on the MDI 2026 administration this school year, please access the following links:

We are inviting students to participate in an anonymous survey between March 25, 2026, and April 10, 2026.  All students between grade 4 and grade 12 will be invited to participate.

The school climate survey for students (Middle Years Development Instrument) is anonymous.  This means that no personal information will be collected from students when they participate in the survey (e.g., email, name, birthdate, student ID).  Since responses are de-identified from the point of collection, no survey responses will be linked with existing Board data.

This questionnaire is not a test and will not be used to evaluate any one individual student, nor be used for report cards, diagnosis, or psychological assessment purposes. The information that your child provides in the survey will be collected anonymously to be combined with other students in their school to generate a School Report and combined with all students within the WCDSB to generate a Board Report.  These reports will be shared with the school and may be shared with community partners.  As well, the responses from the WCDSB and the WRDSB will be combined to create an overall Waterloo Region report through a data sharing agreement, where individual students, schools and/or Boards will not be identified.

The results of the survey (i.e., reports) will be used to enhance student school engagement, positive learning experiences, wellbeing, and academic success. The MDI survey will not be used by the Waterloo Catholic District School Board to rank schools, students, or classes in any way.

Non-identifiable survey responses will be provided to the HELP group at UBC for research purposes. Researchers who receive permission to use the MDI data through HELP for research or statistical purposes will be provided data that cannot be connected to any individual student.

By law, the WCDSB must protect the privacy and personal information of students.  The Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI) complies with the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA) and the requirements of the Education Act.  Only the Research Team WILL have access to individual MDI responses, but only to do research.  The Research Team is responsible for making sure any identifying information is removed or suppressed so that student identity is protected. Teachers, principals, and other school board staff WILL NOT see survey responses.

The Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI) is voluntary. Any student may choose not to participate, to stop participating, or to skip a question at any time. Additionally, parents/guardians of students under 18 years of age can ask that their child be exempt from participating in the MDI. Information will be distributed electronically by School Messenger, on our website, and/or on social media.

There are two ways for parents/guardians to request an exemption for their child:

  1. Online: You may ask for an exemption electronically by completing this online form: MDI Opt-Out Form
  2. Contact your child’s school: If you are unable to complete the online form, please contact your child’s school and they can complete the opt-out form on your behalf.

Parents/guardians who would like their child to be exempted from participating in the MDI may request an exemption at any time before March 11, 2026.

If a parent/guardian does not submit a request to opt-out, all students will receive an invitation to participate in the MDI during class time.

Yes. The MDI is voluntary.  Students can choose if they want to complete the survey.  Students can stop answering questions at any time.  Students can skip any question they do not wish to answer.

The Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI) will be implemented using the online survey platform Alchemer. Alchemer has been assessed by the Privacy and Research teams in WCDSB to ensure compliance with privacy and security requirements.

WCDSB’s Research Team has developed a data management plan to comply with Board policies, MFIPPA, and the Education Act.  All survey responses will be kept on encrypted servers and password protected devices with role-based access restrictions. Data will be securely disposed of as per the WCDSB Records Retention Schedule.

Only members of the WCDSB Research Team will have access to your child’s anonymous survey responses.  We are not collecting names or identifiers (e.g., email), but we are collecting identifiers that, if combined with other information, could allow a determined individual to re-identify specific people. However, the practice of de-identifying response data as soon as possible means that there are fewer opportunities for re-identification. We are implementing safeguards to prevent this potential outcome. For questions or concerns related to the privacy of your child’s survey data, please contact your child’s school principal or the WCDSB Privacy, Records and Information Management Officer (privacy@wcdsb.ca).

All students at the WCDSB in grades 4-12 are invited to participate in the Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI) as part of our requirement to conduct school climate surveys. The survey will be available online through our secure survey platform (Alchemer) and teachers will administer the MDI during class. Students will use a board device to complete the MDI.

Your child’s responses to the questions will be collected, stored, and presented anonymously – only the WCDSB Research Team will have access to the anonymous survey data and will create anonymous reports for each school and the overall school Board. If a question bothers a student in any way, the student may skip the question or can stop answering the survey altogether. All students will receive information about who they can reach out to, should they need help at the end of the survey.

The following accommodations are available for students:

  • Languages – The MDI will be available in a variety of languages to support all students across the Waterloo Catholic District School Board, including:
    • Chinese (simplified)
    • English
    • Filipino (Tagalog)
    • French
    • Hebrew
    • Hindi
    • Korean
    • Polish
    • Portuguese
    • Punjabi
    • Russian
    • Spanish
    • Tigrinya (written and audio)
    • Ukrainian
    • Urdu
    • Vietnamese
    • Yoruba

If your child will require another language, please make your request by contacting your school administrator before March 11, 2026.

  • Text to Speech – The MDI online survey is compatible with the Google Read & Write Extension.
  • Support Staff (e.g., EAs, CYWs, SERTs, ESL supports) – If a student has regular and recurring classroom supports to complete schoolwork and assessments, these supports will be available to assist the student to log onto their device, open the URL link to the survey and/or orient themselves with the available accommodations (e.g., font size, Google Read&Write, Translation). These staff will ensure your child’s privacy is maintained.

Yes. If your child (the student) has a cognitive or physical challenge and is unable to participate directly, please contact your school principal to plan for another person (i.e., you, the parent/guardian) to complete the survey on behalf of the student.  If you have questions about the WCDSB MDI, please contact your school administrator or research@wcdsb.ca and one of the Research Team members will respond shortly.

The MDI was developed by the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP), led by Dr. Kim Schonert-Reichl at the University of British Columbia, and the administration of the MDI is continuing to expand across Canada and internationally. Your child’s participation helps us here across the Waterloo Catholic District School board and across Canada as we continue to make data-informed decisions and plan with data-informed directions. For more information, please access: MDI: The Middle Years Development Instrument – Overview

Last Updated February 17, 2026