Last fall and spring students, staff, and parents/guardians had the opportunity to participate in the School Perceptions Student Life Survey. School Perceptions is an independent education research firm with more than 20 years of experience in conducting surveys across all domains of education nationwide. The survey is designed to measure student, staff, and parent engagement at school. It will provide our district with answers to important questions, such as:
What practices and policies help our students learn, and what barriers are in the way?
Do students feel supported?
What could be done to increase student involvement, both in and out of the classroom?
The survey results are designed to provide the education leaders with a snapshot of the survey results ranging from one to five. “It’s not uncommon for students, and not as uncommon for staff as well to decrease from the fall to spring” Dr. Rob DeMeuse from School Perceptions. In his presentation, Dr. DeMeuse informed the Baraboo School District Board of Education that scores decreased an average of three-tenths of a point.
District staff will review and use this information throughout the school year to help inform work. A few areas of promise include: Student responses to
Student's sense of connection and active involvement in school-related activities is strong as indicated by the Connection Index score.
The Informed and Included Index scores increased from Fall 2022 to Spring 2023 as parents felt more informed about their child’s progress and what is happening at school and they felt more included, welcomed, and part of the school community.
The staff survey indicates some positive changes with our school’s student discipline practices and policies shown by a 24.5% increase in the score. We are headed in the right direction, and we need to provide staff support to continue this good work.
The next survey will occur in Spring of 2024. This will be the third sampling of the survey and will help our district to see where there may be trends and continued opportunities for improvement.