New Surveys Aim To Assess School Climate
A national
nonprofit has created a series of free Web-based surveys that schools
and
districts can use to assess the climate of their schools.
The American
Institutes for Research (AIR) has created the ED School Climate
Surveys for the United States Department of Education that offer
educators a sophisticated analysis of school climate, measuring everything from
safety
to the quality of the instructional environment.
The
surveys will be distributed to schools at no
charge. The results will be stored on AIR's Web platform and can be
stored
locally on districts' or schools' own platforms.
Separate
surveys have been created for middle and
high school students, teachers, school staff and parents. Schools,
districts
and states can add their own items to the surveys and use them over
time to set
benchmarks and identify trends.
According
to AIR representatives, school climate
encompasses a wide range of elements, from physical safety —
such as
vandalism or fighting — and respect to caring relationships and trust.
Examples
of questions targeted at students asks them to select their response on
a scale
that ranges from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree" to statements
like:
- My
teachers care about me";
- "I
feel safe at this school";
- "My
teachers praise me when I work hard in
school"; and
- "Students
at this school stop and think before
doing anything when they get angry."
The
surveys are the result of two White House
initiatives, the "Now Is the Time" plan and "My Brother's Keeper Task
Force,"
both designed to enhance school climate across the nation. Next year,
the
Education Department plans to use the surveys to create a nationally
representative sample of schools that will offer national benchmark
scores.
"Two
big reasons schools typically cite for not
doing school climate surveys is that they lack the funds to administer
them or
the expertise to analyze them," said AIR Vice President David Osher.
"This
project eliminates those arguments. The survey is free and the results
are
presented in a user-friendly language that any layperson can
understand."
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.