High School Student Engagement Survey 2007 Q&A

Follow the 'Read More' link for answers to common questions.

What is this survey that 4J high school students will take this month?

During the last week of April 2007, high school students in 4J will take a survey on what their class and school experience is like. The students will take the survey, which takes about 40 minutes, in one class period on one day. Each school will pick the period and day. Students that don’t have class that period will not take the survey.

Why do the survey?

This student engagement survey can give schools and the district valuable insight into what students experience in their classes. By surveying students by class, primarily on their experiences in that class, we can put together a composite picture of our schools, using those “classroom snapshots.” Schools need to provide certain conditions to help students succeed, and the survey can help us find out if students are getting what they need to excel.

What does the survey ask about?

The survey asks students about their experience in school and in the class in which they take the survey. It has questions about how different parts of student life affect learning: relationships with teachers, life at home, relationships with peers, how students look or act or feel about themselves, how teachers teach, and more.

What is the Tripod Project?

The survey is part of a national effort, called the Tripod Project, to document attitudes, perceptions, experiences and practices in today’s high schools. The results come back to schools so they can talk about how to improve school and academic achievement for all students. The network of participating schools can help each other by comparing and sharing data and ideas.

“Tripod” refers to the three elements the survey asks about: content, pedagogy and relationships. To help ALL students, teachers need to better understand what they are teaching (content knowledge), how they are teaching (pedagogy), and they need to relate to students in ways that motivate and enable students to achieve (relationships).

Why aren't you doing something that is tailored more to our community, and/or that is developed locally?

There are several reasons why the district is working with Tripod instead of developing something locally.

• Experience. Tripod has much more experience in this field, having given and analyzed surveys in 35 districts over four years. It has a tried method for building and interpreting surveys and is backed by the research department of Harvard University.
• Networking. Our results would be put in a national context with other Tripod surveys, so we can compare our findings to other districts around the country. Also, we can attend the Tripod conference or get tips from other districts on what has and hasn’t worked for them.
• Time and money. To build a valid survey would take weeks, and with the local input that would likely happen, probably months. It would also take hundreds of hours of time that the district cannot afford.
• Avoiding delays. We believe getting this kind of feedback from our high school students has waited long enough. We believe it is important to go forward with the survey now, and not wait a year or more for a local version to be developed that would likely indicate the same things.

Why doesn’t this (do something better than it does: fill in the blank)?

The survey is not perfect. Like any survey, it could probe more deeply in certain areas. It would also be better if students could take the same survey twice (in two different classes) to provide more data. It would also be nice to guarantee that all students could take the survey. However, we feel it is of the utmost importance to get this survey done this year, and make improvements in the future. We don’t want to lose the ability to study results over the summer and plan changes next year.

Will all students take the survey?

No. A few students at each school will be absent the day it is given, or not have a class during that period. While we value the voice of each student, the No. 1 purpose of the survey is to give schools statistically valid, large-scale information. If some students don’t take the survey, it won’t damage the overall results. In future years, the survey might be given during two class periods, which would capture more students. But even then, the purpose would be to have more reliable data about the classes and the schools.

Why does the survey contain “sensitive” questions, about race, family, personal appearance, etc.?

We want to know if students’ backgrounds, or the way they look, act or are perceived by others affects how they are taught, or what their experience is in school. Knowing how students view themselves and how they think others view them will help us look at how that corresponds with the quality of education they receive, and how they like school. We think schools should know if they are unintentionally treating students unequally.

How will you deal with student concerns?

Students don’t have to fill out surveys if they don’t want to, and they don’t have to answer any specific questions that they don’t want to. Schools will also have staff available as resources for students.

Can this be used to punish teachers or schools?

No. Individual teachers can request and receive their own classroom’s results from Tripod. Principals and the district will not be able to get those results. The goal is to look at school-wide trends.

Can teachers or schools retaliate against students for their answers?

No. Student’s responses will be confidential and school or district staff will not have access to how individual students filled out their surveys.

Why are you taking time to do this away from instruction, if you really care about student achievement?

We have data on how students perform on tests and assignments, but not much on how they view their instruction or their educational environment. We are concerned that we could be doing a better job of meeting the needs of some groups of students. It is better to take time to find out how students are doing, than to waste their precious time by not serving them as well as we should be.

Does the survey focus on struggling or poor or minority students, while neglecting “average” or high achieving students?

The survey will provide results on ALL students. We should be able to tell if there are any groups that are having poor learning experiences because of what they look like, what their background is, how they are perceived, because of class content, or how the class is taught.

How will the survey be followed up?

The survey is just one step, but an important one that will show student experiences on a broad scale. Future steps will include school site councils working to interpret the results (with help from Tripod), and then site councils will formulate plans for how to address what they find. The goal is to make changes to improve the student experience, and then measure the effectiveness of those changes with future surveys. When students are being served better in schools, we should also see improved academic performance.

Is this a response to recent accusations of racism in the community?

No. Only a small part of the survey deals with student race or ethnicity. The goal is to find out what many, different types of students experience in our schools. The district had been looking at surveying its high school students long before the recent allegations of racist behavior. The survey spends more time dealing with what is taught in school and how those subjects are taught.

Don't you know this already, without spending the time and money to do it?

Some teachers or district staff may have ideas about what the student experience is. Individual teachers often know a great deal about how students in any one of their classes feel about school. But high school teachers often teach large classes, and see as many as 200 students a day. This makes it difficult for teachers to know each student well. Teachers can also learn about student experiences outside of their own classrooms. Student feedback can be very powerful when you can see with hard evidence what a large number of students say. Also, other districts that have given the survey have learned things that they never expected.

How can parents learn more, or see the survey?

Parents can call their high school office and someone will be able to answer questions about the survey, or go over the full survey with parents.