Strategic Plan Survey

The District invites the public to fill out a survey regarding District's Strategic Plan.

Seattle Public Schools is updating and adjusting the Strategic Plan with input from teachers, principals, parents, families, and members of our community. Please visit the following survey link to provide feedback to Seattle Public Schools:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SPS_Strategic_Plan_Survey_Spring_2011.

The survey consists of 21 questions and will close on Tuesday, May 31. Responses to the survey will remain confidential and anonymous. For questions about the survey, please email performancemanagement@seattleschools.org.

There are some trick questions here.

1. As you envision Seattle Public Schools in the year 2013, for what would you like it to be widely known and respected?
They list some possible responses, but I answered "providing interventions for struggling students, challenge for advanced learners, and rigor and support for all students."

5. What kinds of supports can be provided to help all schools achieve academic excellence?
Schools don't achieve academic excellence; students do. The schools should support struggling students with whatever unique need they each have.

3. Do you have any suggestions on how we can improve our ability to monitor and evaluate student academic progress?
It's a bad question. The District shouldn't be focused on monitoring student progress, but on taking action when students fall behind. Less monitoring, more action.

2. Do you have any suggestions on how we can improve our ability to hire and retain the best teachers and principals?
Stop low-balling the projected enrollments and manufacturing a need for RIFs.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Charlie,

Re the question on monitoring student progress, here's what I responded to that on the survey:

"Give each child a page in a book to read aloud. The book should be a novel or storybook rated at the child's grade level. Note down how many words the child doesn't know. If it's too many, give the child a page to read in a book rated one grade level lower. Repeat until you find the child's reading level.

"Each year behind equates to some number of hours (a few hundred, probably) that the child has not spent effectively practicing reading. Tell the child's parents that the child is behind by 300, 500, 900 or however many hours of reading practice that is.

"With the parents, form a plan to catch up by spending that many extra hours practicing reading over the next year to several years, at at a rate of for eample two extra hours practicing every day.

"If after a few months, the child makes little or no progress, move that child from regular classroom activities to an intensive all-day (or most of the day) reading practice group during the school day."

-Steveroo
Anonymous said…
Excellent job on identifying the trick questions. Of all the people who bother to take the survey, how many of them do you think will be willing to step outside the box and write in an answer? How many do you think will be willing to put in the thought necessary to come up with the answers that you did -- if they agree with those answers?

Techno Mom
LG said…
Well at least most questions were open-ended. Thanks for this link. Always nice to start the day by speaking my mind.
I said they could help themselves by writing better surveys.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Central Mom said…
Do you have any suggestions on how ewe can improve our ability to hire and retain the best teachers and principals?

Great Freudian slip Charlie. Yes, too often the Seattle public has been treated as "ewes" instead of "yous".
lendlees said…
My feelings exactly Melissa. Why they can't do real research just kills me. These types of surveys really need to have focus groups beforehand so they can get the top answers thereby reducing the number of open ended questions.

Those (OE's) are the death of surveys. Too long to analyze and they contribute to high abandonment rates.
peonypower said…
My evaluator actually said I needed to use the "thumbs up, thumbs down" method more in my class to inform my instruction during my meeting today. When I countered that such class polling is often not reliable (students overestimate what they understand, or will not identify as thumbs down especially in high school ) and that I prefer to see their responses in writing or with the new clicker system he had to agree. If the best that the system can come up with for monitoring progress is thumb checks as opposed to actual work then the new PMP is stupider than I thought.
dan dempsey said…
"the new PMP is stupider than I thought."

That would be pretty damn stupid.

But no problem as the District by policy is no longer interested in interventions for students.... So it really does not matter if the kids are struggling or not.

Only teachers care about such things ...
Salander said…
peonypower-

I am happy to hear that others recieve idiotic feedback from evalutors.
Glad to hear that yours actually agreed with you.

Mine has only read the "Teaching for Dummies"(written by ed deformers) manual and thinks it is the Holy Writ.

BTW anyone ever seen or heard the results of any of these surveys? Staff have been given several of these to respond to and have never seen the results. Could it be the district doesn't want to share?

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