REL Needs Sensing Survey

FINAL VERSION | 12-Oct-12

Sample Survey Instrument for School Board Members and District Administrators

A-12

T he purpose of this survey is to understand the needs of [teachers/principals/school board members/district administrators] in the Midwest region. The survey is being conducted by

The purpose of this survey is to understand the needs of [school board members/district administrators] in the Midwest region. The survey is being conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago on behalf of REL Midwest, which is part of a network of ten Regional Educational Laboratories funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES). Each REL serves a designated region of the country and focuses on the national priority of helping states and districts use data and analysis to address relevant and timely education policy and practice issues with the goal of improving student outcomes.

REL Midwest serves the educational needs of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. You are one of a sample of [school board members/district administrators] that was selected to represent not only you, but others in your role throughout the Midwest region; thus, it is essential we hear back from you. Your feedback is important because it will help REL Midwest refine its understanding of regional needs and inform its future research, technical assistance, and dissemination work.

PLEASE NOTE: Your participation is voluntary, and you may skip any question or stop at any time. Per the policies and procedures required by the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, Title I, Part E, Section 183, responses to this data collection will be used only for statistical purposes. The reports prepared for this study will summarize findings across the sample and will not associate responses with a specific district or individual. We will not provide information that identifies you or your district to anyone outside the study team, except as required by law. Any willful disclosure of such information for nonstatistical purposes, without the informed consent of the respondent, is a class E felony. Your confidentiality will be maintained to the degree permitted by the technology used. Specifically, no guarantees can be made regarding the interception of data sent via the Internet by any third parties. By clicking on the survey link below you are indicating that you consent to participate in this study. If you have questions about your rights as a study participant, you may call the NORC IRB Administrator, toll free, at 866-309-0542.

GO TO SURVEY

THANK YOU!

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. Public reporting burden for this survey is estimated to average 20 minutes per response including time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20210‐4537 or email [email protected] and reference the OMB Control Number 1850‐XXXX. Note: Please do not return the completed survey to this address.

REL Midwest would like to know which issues are of greatest concern to educators in the region. The first series of questions is designed to identify the educational issues that are of highest priority in your district.

Q1. Following is a list of issues that have been suggested as potential priorities for some school districts in the Midwest region. Please review this list and indicate which (if any) are high priorities for your district. (Please check all that apply)

	This is a high priority for my district
Q1a. Recruiting more effective leaders in schools and districts	□
Q1b. Improving the retention of effective leaders in schools and districts	□
Q1c. Providing additional school and district leadership development opportunities	□
Q1d. Raising the quality of school and district leadership development opportunities	□
Q1e. Recruiting more effective teachers	□
Q1f. Improving the retention of effective teachers	□
Q1g. Providing additional professional development opportunities for teachers	□
Q1h. Raising the quality of professional development opportunities for teachers	□
Q1i. Raising the quality of professional learning communities	□
Q1j. Rewarding educators for reaching performance targets	□
Q1k. Increasing access to data on educator effectiveness	□
Q1l. Developing skills to use data on educator effectiveness	□
Q1m. Enhancing capacity to track individual students’ progress	□
Q1n. Improving instructional programs for students at risk of dropout	□
Q1o. Improving instructional programs for English language learners	□
Q1p. Improving instructional programs for students with disabilities	□
Q1q. Raising the quality of school safety programs	□
Q1r. Increasing community and/or family involvement in school	□
Q1s. Providing more choice with respect to the schools students may attend	□
Q1t. Improving access to out-of-school programs for students at risk	□
Q1u. Increasing access to out-of-school programs for college-and-career readiness	□
Q1v. Establishing additional college- and career-ready standards	□
Q1w. Providing more opportunities to take advanced placement or college courses	□
Q1x. Increasing high school graduation rates	□
Q1y. Creating alternative pathways to high school completion	□
Q1z. Providing more college and career counseling	□
Q1aa. Raising the quality of college and career counseling	□
Q1bb. Improving access to high quality preschool programs	□
Q1cc. Coordinating better with early learning programs to improve school readiness	□
Q1dd. Appropriate and effective use of assessments in early learning	□
Q1ee. Developing or aligning early learning standards to K-12 standards	□
Q1ff. Raising professional requirements for early childhood educators	□
Q1gg. Evaluating the quality of preschool programs	□
Q1hh. Linking pre-K data systems with K-12 data systems	□

Q2. Are there any other high priority issues for your district?

Conditional branch (THIS ITEM WILL BE ASKED OF ALL RESPONDENTS, BUT will only list items designated as “high” priorities for the respondent’s district in Q1)

Q3. You indicated that the following issues are high priorities for your district. Please select up to THREE issues that are the HIGHEST priorities for your district.

	These are the 3 highest priorities for:
	my DISTRICT
Item 1	□
Item 2	□
Item 3	□
Item 4	□
Item 5	□
. . .
Item N	□

Conditional branch (THE NEXT 3 ITEMS WILL BE ASKED OF ALL RESPONDENTS, BUT will only list the items designated as the “highest” priorities for the respondent’s district in Q3)

REL Midwest helps districts and schools systematically use their data systems; conducts and supports high-quality research and evaluations; and assists educational practitioners and policymakers with making empirically based decisions. Publications, technical assistance, and events are all part of REL Midwest’s service menu.

REL Midwest is interested in learning about the usefulness of its services and products to address your high-priority issues. The next series of questions asks you to rate the usefulness of some of the products and services that REL Midwest could provide.

Q4. You indicated that [Item 1] is one of the highest priorities for your district. Thinking about your district, how useful would it be for REL Midwest to do the following? (Please rate each item separately on a scale of 1=Not at all Useful to 5=Very Useful)

Not at all Very

Useful Useful

Q4a. Supply information on the issue, such as summaries of existing research	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q4b. Provide support for using district data to address the issue	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q4c. Conduct new research on the issue	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5

Q4d. What other kinds of assistance would be useful to your district to address this high priority issue?

Q5. You indicated that [Item 2] is one of the highest priorities for your district. Thinking about your district, how useful would it be for REL Midwest to do the following?

Not at all Very

Useful Useful

Q5a. Supply information on the issue, such as summaries of existing research	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q5b. Provide support for using district data to address the issue	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q5c. Conduct new research on the issue	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5

Q5d. What other kinds of assistance would be useful to your district to address this high priority issue?

Q6. You indicated that [Item 3] is one of the highest priorities for your district. Thinking about your district, how useful would it be for REL Midwest to do the following?

Not at all Very

Useful Useful

Q6a. Supply information on the issue, such as summaries of existing research	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q6b. Provide support for using district data to address the issue	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q6c. Conduct new research on the issue	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5

Q6d. What other kinds of assistance would be useful to your district to address this high priority issue?

REL Midwest is always planning for ways it can be of help to schools and districts, practitioners, parents and policymakers. The next series of questions asks you how REL Midwest might be of assistance to your district in the future in the four priority areas of: (1) educator effectiveness, (2) school improvement, (3) college and career readiness, and (4) early childhood education.

Q7. Many educators have indicated that educator effectiveness is an important issue to schools and districts in the Midwest. Thinking ahead about future assistance REL Midwest could provide, how useful would the following products be to your district with regard to the specific issue of educator effectiveness?

Not at all Very

Useful Useful

Q7a. An analytic method for – or electronic tool that automates – the measurement (or assessment) of teacher and principal supply and demand.	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q7b. An analysis of teacher and principal compensation systems.	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q7c. An analysis of methods for evaluating teacher and principal effectiveness.	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q7d. An analysis that identifies the characteristics of effective teaching.	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q7e. An analysis of the effectiveness of professional development programs.	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q7f. An analysis of the effectiveness of different teacher or leader certification pathways.	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q7g. An electronic tool that automates the review and interpretation of student test scores or other indicators of student learning	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q7h. An analysis of how technology can be effectively integrated into instruction.	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5

Q7i. Are there any other automated tools, analytical methods, analyses, or assistance related to the above or other educator effectiveness issues that would be particularly useful to your district?

Q8. Many educators have also indicated that improvement of low-performing schools is an important issue in the Midwest. Thinking ahead about future assistance REL Midwest could provide, how useful would the following products be to your district with regard to the specific issue of low-performing schools?

Not at all Very

Useful Useful

Q8a. An analytic method for – or electronic tool that automates – the identification of low-performing schools that are improving, have “turned around,” or have not yet demonstrated substantial improvement	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q8b. An analysis of the characteristics and practices of low-performing schools that are improving, have “turned around,” or have not yet demonstrated substantial improvement.	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q8c. An analysis of how low-performing schools are implementing practices that contribute to or fail to promote improvement or “turn around.”	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q8d. A workshop or training on specific interventions that have been shown to improve low-performing schools.	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5

Q8e. Are there any other automated tools, analytical methods, analyses, or assistance related to the above or other school improvement issues that would be particularly useful to your district?

Q9. Many educators have also indicated that college and career readiness is an important issue for schools and districts in the Midwest. Thinking ahead about future assistance REL Midwest could provide, how useful would the following products be to your district with regard to the specific issue of college and career readiness?

Not at all Very

Useful Useful

Q9a. An analysis that examines the impact of specific K-12 programs or practices on college and career readiness.	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q9b. An analysis that identifies the high school performance and individual and high school characteristics of students who persist in college.	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q9c. A workshop that provides training on approaches and tools for measuring career readiness.	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q9d. An electronic tool that tracks students’ progress through elementary and high school.	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q9e. An electronic tool that tracks student progress through postsecondary education.	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q9f. An electronic tool that links graduate data to employment data for students in career and technical education.	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q9g. An electronic tool that alerts educators when K-12 students are experiencing difficulties keeping on track to becoming college and career ready.	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q9h. Tools that compare schools in terms of the readiness of their students for college and careers.	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5

Q9i. Are there any other automated tools, analytical methods, analyses, or assistance related to the above or other college and career readiness issues that would be particularly useful to your district?

Q10. Many educators have also indicated that early learning, specifically the transition from pre-kindergarten programs to kindergarten, is an important issue for schools and districts in the Midwest. Thinking ahead about future assistance REL Midwest could provide, how useful would the following products be to your district with regard to the specific issue of early childhood education?

Not at all Very

Useful Useful

Q10a. An inventory of early learning programs documenting their characteristics or the populations they serve.	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q10b. An analysis of the impact of particular early learning programs and program characteristics.	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q10c. An analysis of the early learning workforce.	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q10d. An analysis of how schools use kindergarten or pre-kindergarten assessments to inform instruction.	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q10e. An analysis of the validity of quality ratings for pre-kindergarten programs.	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5
Q10f. An analysis of districts’ capacity for integrating pre-kindergarten data with K-12 data.	○ 1 ○ 2 ○ 3 ○ 4 ○ 5

Q10g. Are there any other automated tools, analytical methods, analyses, or assistance related to the above or other early learning issues that would be particularly useful to your district?

Q11. Several of the above items relate to accessing and using research evidence and data. Where would you normally turn for such data, analytic, or informational supports? (Please check all that apply)

□ Colleagues

□ District resources

□ Professional association(s)

□ Journal(s)

□ Education-focused websites or blogs

□ General Internet searches

□ Professional development program(s)

□ College/university (local or online)

□ State Department of Education resources

□ Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) database

□ What Works Clearinghouse (WWC)/Doing What Works

□ REL Midwest

□ Other:

SUBMIT

THANK YOU!

Additional information about REL Midwest and the work it does is available at http://www.relmidwest.org/. You can request assistance by using the Ask a REL service at http://www.relmidwest.org/AskRel.php. REL staff may also be contacted through their toll-free hotline at 866-730-6735 and by email at [email protected].