1996-97 School Quality Survey

Executive Summary

March 3, 1997

This years School Quality Survey was sent out to 126,219 students, parents, teachers, administrators, and support staff. Of the 126,219 surveys sent out 72,433 were returned, resulting in an overall response rate of approximately 57.4%. Positively worded statements on the School Quality Survey are directly related to the eight Quality Standards provided by the District’s Action 2000 plan. The goal of Action 2000 is to help achieve a profile of the 21^st Century Graduate. The eight quality standards are:

1. Instruction, 2. Curriculum, 3. Environment, 4. Diversity Appreciation, 5. Home and Community Partnership, 6. Leadership, 7. Human Resources, 8. Organizational Management, Assessment and Planning.

Instruction: The percentage agreement among parents, students, and teachers has for the most part increased or stayed the same over the past three years to positively worded questions regarding the quality of instruction. The greatest increase in agreement was found to questions concerning the use of technology in the classroom. On the Middle/High Student survey, the statement "My teachers often use computers to teach new material." was re-written to read "My teachers often use computers, graphing calculators, or learning/writing labs in their lessons." Responses to this statement rose from 34% agreement to 61% agreement for middle school students and from 25% to 56% for high school students. It is likely that the low rate of agreement among middle and high school students last year was simply due to the highly specific wording of the statement rather than a lack of technology use in the classroom. Even for statements that were not re-worded (e.g., "I feel comfortable using a computer.") the percentage agreement increased by several percent for both middle and high school students.

Curriculum: Positive responses to statements regarding curriculum also tended to increase or stay the same over the past three years. Increases in positive responses were most notable among parents and teachers. Of the middle and high school students responding to the School Quality Survey, 82% of the middle school students and 81% of the high school students indicated that their schoolwork was challenging. The lowest level of agreement to statements related to curriculum was to the statement "I have received information about a variety of career choices". Of the middle school respondents 52% agreed while only 49% of high school students agreed, both figures were up from previous years.

Environment:: Statements regarding school environment are for the most part concerned with the physical environment and school safety. The percent agreeing to questions regarding school safety has increased over the past three years for parents, students and teachers. One exception among middle school students was a decrease in the percentage agreeing to the statement "Students behave during class." from 51% last year to 49% this year. Positive responses to statements concerning the physical condition of the schools also increased over the past three years. One exception to the latter was found among high school students where the percentage agreeing to the statement "The school is clean and well kept." decreased from 58% last year to 54% this year.

Diversity Appreciation:: Overall, agreement to positively worded statements pertaining to diversity appreciation increased over the past several years for elementary, middle and high school students. One exception to this trend was found among middle school students, where agreement to a statement regarding the opportunity to learn the heritages of others decreased by one percent from last year (70% to 69%). Student agreement to statements concerned with racial harmony increased over the past three years for all three grade levels. However, agreement tended to decrease across grade levels from elementary to high school over the past three years. For the 1996-97 survey, percentage agreement to the statement "Students of different ethnic and racial backgrounds get along at this school." was (elementary = 81%, middle = 77%, high = 61%). The perceived decrease in racial harmony from elementary to high school was evident across all three years.

Within the current year (1996-97) there was differential agreement across ethnic groups to a number of ethnic diversity statements. Agreement to the statement "I have adequate opportunities to learn a second language." was highest among Hispanic and Asian American middle school students and lowest among Native American students. Agreement to the statement "All students are treated fairly at this school regardless of ethnic or racial background." tended to be highest among White/Anglo, Hispanic and Asian American students and lowest among African American students across elementary, middle and high school. And finally, agreement to the statement regarding ethnic harmony also tended to be highest among White/Anglo, Hispanic and Asian American students and lowest among African American students across elementary, middle and high school.

Home and Community Partnership: Positive responses to statements related to home and community partnership have generally increased over the past three years for parents, teachers and students.

Leadership: Responses to statements regarding leadership have largely increased or stayed the same over the past three years for parents, students, and teachers. On the other hand, agreement to more specific statements relating to accessibility of the school principal decreased from last year for elementary, middle, and high school students. The response rate of teachers and administrators could be perceived as another measure of leadership. The rational for using teacher/administrator response rate as a measure of leadership is; strong leadership should result in higher response rates among teachers and administrators given the district’s emphasis on responding to the survey.

This year several elementary schools having the highest response rates for teachers and administrators were: Cavett, Student Learning Intervention Center, Miller, Johnson, Vessey, Warren, and Wheeler. All of the schools listed here had response rates greater than 90%. Several of the elementary schools having the lowest response rate among teachers and administrators were Wright, Rose, Roberts, and Rogers, all having response rates less than 40%. Some middle schools having the highest response rates for teachers and administrators were Secrist, Gridley, and Mansfeld, all having response rates greater than 80%. Several of the middle schools having the lowest response rate among teachers and administrators were Hohokam, Naylor, and Fickett all having response rates less than 50%. For high schools the greatest response rates were for Catalina, University, Rincon, and Santa Rita having response rates greater than 70%. While some of the lowest rates were for Pueblo, and Tucson High both having response rates less than 50%.

Human Resources: Statements related to human resources are distributed and responded to by teachers and administrators only. Positive responses to statements concerning opportunities to learn more about computers and continue professional development dropped between 1994-95 and 1995-96. Positive responses increased again between 1995-96 and 1996-97 to a level equal to or greater than that obtained from the 1994-95 survey. On the other hand, statements regarding the dissemination of information and access to computers have increased across all three years.

Organizational Management, Assessment and Planning: Statements related to organizational management, assessment and planning (MAP) are also distributed and responded to by teachers and administrators only. Positive responses to these statements have increased across all three years from 1994-95 to 1996-97.

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