Comments on: Dueling Surveys http://www.eduwonk.com/2008/06/dueling-surveys.html Education News, Analysis, and Commentary Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:15:29 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 hourly 1 By: Eric Hirsch, Director of Special Projects, New Teacher Center http://www.eduwonk.com/2008/06/dueling-surveys.html/comment-page-1#comment-976 Eric Hirsch, Director of Special Projects, New Teacher Center Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:06:00 +0000 http://www.eduwonk.com/wordpress/2008/06/dueling-surveys.html#comment-976 Having a 3rd party conduct a more neutral survey to assess climate can be very helpful. But having the media ask would already skew the answers of educators as they know they would find their answers on the front page...and the media is not exactly known for its attention to research-based practices. More important than who does the survey is<br/>1. The survey here is not about climate, the questions are about an individual (Chancellor Klein) and the respondents would key all their answers based on the first part of the question. Questions should be about schools and conditions, not people.<br/>2. The questions should be research-based and be about things that not just relate to "climate" or "satisfaction" but positive teaching conditions necessary for student and educator success <br/>3. The results should be gathered at the school level (where many differences can be seen in the same district)and used for school improvement planning as well as to influence the district <br/><br/>There are some great examples of this not only in our own surveys I do at the New Teacher Center, but in Chicago through the Consortium on Chicago School Research. And some good examples within unions as well as such as the NEA KEYS Survey If we're going to ask 100,000 teachers about their thoughts and needs, let's make sure we do it in such a way that empowers them and gives them data to improve their own environments. Having a 3rd party conduct a more neutral survey to assess climate can be very helpful. But having the media ask would already skew the answers of educators as they know they would find their answers on the front page…and the media is not exactly known for its attention to research-based practices. More important than who does the survey is
1. The survey here is not about climate, the questions are about an individual (Chancellor Klein) and the respondents would key all their answers based on the first part of the question. Questions should be about schools and conditions, not people.
2. The questions should be research-based and be about things that not just relate to “climate” or “satisfaction” but positive teaching conditions necessary for student and educator success
3. The results should be gathered at the school level (where many differences can be seen in the same district)and used for school improvement planning as well as to influence the district

There are some great examples of this not only in our own surveys I do at the New Teacher Center, but in Chicago through the Consortium on Chicago School Research. And some good examples within unions as well as such as the NEA KEYS Survey If we’re going to ask 100,000 teachers about their thoughts and needs, let’s make sure we do it in such a way that empowers them and gives them data to improve their own environments.

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