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for larger version       DOE Launches Second Annual Schools Survey Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein on Wednesday, March 12, launched the second annual Learning Environment Survey of all 1.5 million public school parents, teachers, and sixth through twelfth grade students. The survey asks these core members of school communities whether their schools are setting high expectations, keeping educators and students safe, and effectively engaging and communicating with all members of their community. Survey responses, which are provided confidentially, account for 10% of a school’s Progress Report grade. For the first time this year, District 75 schools, which educate students with disabilities who need more restrictive instructional settings, will participate in the survey, as will guidance counselors. All of the City’s charter schools are also receiving the survey for the first time and are expected to participate. Results of this year’s survey will be available at the beginning of the summer—several months earlier than last year—so that schools can use them as they plan for the 2008- 09 school year. Chancellor Klein was joined at P.S. 26 in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn by United Federation of Teachers Vice President Michael Mulgrew; Kenneth D. Cohen, Regional Director, NAACP NYS Conference Metropolitan Council; and Principal Michele Ashley, a graduate of the City’s Leadership Academy. “Any effective organization responds to concrete feedback from its customers, and a school is no exception. Thanks to the Learning Environment Survey, our schools know exactly how their parents, teachers, and students want them to improve,” Chancellor Klein said. “We received almost 600,000 responses to last year’s survey, making it one of the largest surveys of any kind ever conducted. I hope even more New Yorkers take advantage of the opportunity this year to tell us what they think about their school.” The Department of Education (DOE) is administering this year’s survey two months earlier than last year so that schools can choose to distribute parent surveys at spring parent-teacher conferences. The earlier administration will also allow schools to receive survey results at the beginning of the summer as they plan for the 2008-09 school year. This year, schools were also able to choose the survey distribution method best suited to reach their students’ parents: schools can either distribute the surveys or ask the DOE to mail them to parents’ homes. Parents will begin receiving the survey in a bright green envelope this week—in their child’s backpack, at a school event, or in the mail. Students in grades 6 to 12 and teachers will receive their surveys at school. All surveys are due back by April 18. Parents and teachers can return the survey in the pre-addressed, postage-paid return envelopes provided or complete the survey online at www.nyc.gov/schools/ surveys. Students can complete surveys online or at school. Parent and student surveys are available in nine languages: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, English, Haitian Creole, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Urdu. Any parent or teacher who has not received a survey by March 19 should contact his or her school or call 3-1-1 to request one. Parents, teachers, and students each take a different version of the survey. All three surveys focus on some of the key prerequisites to learning: safety, communication, engagement, and expectations. The parent survey asks parents to assess aspects of the school such as the classes and other programs their children’s schools offer, how often they talk with their children’s teachers, and how satisfied they are with the quality of education their children are receiving. The student survey asks such questions as whether the adults at their schools know who they are, if their schools set high expectations for them, and whether they feel safe at school. The teacher survey asks about issues such as school safety, if instructional materials are in good condition, and whether principals are supportive leaders and effective managers. Based on feedback from principals, unions, the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council, and meetings with parents, teachers, and students, the DOE revised and shortened the survey this year. The survey remains sufficiently similar to last year’s to allow for yearto year comparisons of results. District 75 school communities will take a version of the survey that addresses the especially diverse learning needs of their students. The DOE developed the District 75 survey over the past year in consultation with District 75 parents, educators, and students, including representatives from the Citywide Council on Special Education, the District 75 Presidents Council, and the District 75 Student Council. The District 75 survey includes questions about the development of Individualized Education Plans (IEPs); collaboration among teachers, counselors, paraprofessionals, and related services providers; and schools’ efforts to ensure that students transition smoothly between grade levels. It also includes many of the questions found on the general education survey. Like last year, survey responses are being collected by an external vendor, assuring the confidentiality of answers. Parents and educators, however, will receive detailed reports of aggregate responses that will help pinpoint ways in which their school can operate more effectively. The aggregate survey results for each school will also make up 10% of its Progress Report grade. Last year, almost 600,000 New Yorkers filled out a Learning Environment Survey, representing the largest number of constituent views on the effectiveness of an American school system ever collected at one time. To help generate even greater participation this year, every school has identified a “survey coordinator,” a staff member who will work with the principal and the school’s parent coordinator to ensure that every eligible member of the school community receives a survey and knows how to complete it. Community-based organizations have also committed to helping get the word out about the importance of completing and returning the survey.
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