First, I whole heartedly support this survey and asking the kids how things are going... Since they are in the school living it, and often the kids steer the parent's opinions.
However, it made me wonder why there are not Parent or Community Member surveys. With web tools available, it should be pretty simple and inexpensive. Of course it would be challenging to get a significant portion of these populations to participate. Though the results would probably be more complete, constructive and thought out.
Now I love my tween/teen age daughters and appreciate their opinions, however asking them about school or teachers given their limited perspective is likely to say as much about their mood at that moment, as the school/teacher. Besides it is "their" school and the only school they have known, and therefore they will likely see it as normal/great.
It will be interesting to see the results... Thoughts?
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District Student Opinion Survey
Robbinsdale Area Schools will conduct a student opinion survey with students in grades 4-12 later this month. Surveys will be completed sometime between February 16 and February 26, 2010. Each school will choose a date and time during this two week time frame that works best for their schedule The survey focuses on goals set by the school board and will take about 15 minutes during the school day.
The purpose of the survey is to gain the perspective of students on issues related to their sense of belonging in school and their impressions of teacher expectations, diversity, school safety and fair discipline. The results of the survey will be used to determine the effectiveness of district programs. When results from the survey are reported, individual students will not be identifiable.
We value our students' opinions, and believe this survey is an important step in making certain that the district is meeting the needs of your family. As a parent, you have the right to decline your child's participation in the student opinion survey; however, we hope to receive input from as many students as possible. Please contact your school by February 12, 2010 if you prefer your student not participate in the survey. If you would like to preview the survey, please visit the district web site at www.rdale.org or contact your school office.
Thank you for your support of this effort, and all you do to stay informed and involved in your child's education.
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6 comments:
I could not agree more with you that what is needed is a community survey. 80% of the community is without students in RAS. I believe that their opinions are more valuable that either students or parents (20% of population).
However, my guess is that the District DOESN'T want to hear from people that may be opposed to what they are currently doing!!
Question: If the District is not willing or able to survey the community, can a group of us do it? Peoples thoughts?
I absolutely support surveying students, staff, parents, and community at large. I think we'll find some really interesting similarities/differences/trends if we do.
However, I don't agree with Numbers Guy that somehow the opinions of residents without students in school is MORE important than all others. Why would that be? There are more of them and they have different priorities, but their opinions aren't inherently more valid. I've never used the police dep't services, but I don't think I have opinions that are "more valuable" just because my taxes support a community resource I don't presently utilize.
Finally, I suspect the lack of a wider survey is that to do legitimate study, with a valid research sample from such a diverse group (senior citizens who may not have computers, non-english speakers who would need translated surveys--yes, they pay taxes, too--younger people without kids in the system who wouldn't respond at the same rate as other groups) would be a very expensive project. I'm guessing there would be a lot of grumping at a five or six figure opinion study. A cheaper, self-selecting study would be skewed and the results would be anecdotal.
I agree we need a community survey. We need to know why people don't want to go to RAS schools. One of things that we hear alot from people outside of the district is "Robbinsdale, I thought you lived Plymouth, why would you go to Robbinsdale schools". I think we need to change the name of our district to better reflect who we are. Many, many years ago I went to schools in the Rosemount District. They eventually changed the name of the district to reflect the communities that they serve, the district is now called Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan. Now I'm not saying drop Robbinsdale, but why not Robbinsdale-Plymouth-New Hope district. People identify with names, people want to go to WAYZATA because it sounds better. When we first moved from another city to Plymouth, we open enrolled our kids in Wayzata, why because it sounded better than saying Robbinsdale. I did bring my kids back to RAS and for the most part we've been fairly happy. Although, after voting "yes" on 3 referendums, I refuse to vote yes again. Schools needed to be closed, but not good schools! Close the schools that couldn't be repaired. Just my 2 cents!
I think this is a complete waste of time and money. This isn't "actionable" information. If they say "class sizes are too large" the District will nod approvingly and publish the findings. If they say "get rid of the bad teachers" the District will pat them on head and do nothing. This would apply to any study - students, parents, residents, taxpayers.
We know of many things that would improve education, like being able to reward and retain better teachers, get rid of poorer teachers regardless of tenure.
Almost anything has to be more effective than the meeting method? (ie low attendance) And the cost should negligible. Though it would not necessarily be statitically valid, it would be a better barometer than the current state. (ie nothing)
What type of feedback would it take to get rational adults who care about the children to remove their 5% of worst performers from the system? Since I believe the good teachers truly do care for the kids.
The union is powerful, however it is ultimately answerable to its membership. And the individual members are ultimately responsible for the actions of the whole.
It's too bad we just signed another two year agreement. Next one had better have carrots and sticks for good and bad teachers.
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