Local News - July 2003

Schools boost marks in survey

Published July 4, 2003

By JEREMY ASHTON, LTN Staff Writer

A higher percentage of Lincoln County Schools’ parents, students and staff would give their school an A or B grade now than in 1998, according to a recent survey.

Highlights of the results of the Effective Schools Survey were presented Friday to the Board of Education at its work session held in the Florence Soule Shanklin Memorial Library.

“The trends overall were positive,” Superintendent Jim Watson told the board.

The survey, conducted once every few years in Lincoln County, affords parents, teachers, non-certified staff and students in grades 3 and up a chance to give feedback on their schools. The questions were identical to the last survey, given in 1998, to allow for comparisons.

The results help the school district’s leadership gauge what schools are doing well and how they can improve.

Approximately 5,700 parents, 600 certified personnel, 200 non-certified personnel and 6,000 students participated in this year’s survey.

Aside from the higher overall grades for schools, the district saw increases in several specific areas.

An issue that frequently arises is finding enough instructional materials for teachers. Yet 85 percent of them agreed or strongly agreed they get what they need. That figure is up from 73.6 percent in 1998 and 54.9 percent in 1992.

“Are you happy that 15 percent don’t think they do?” Watson said. “No, but I think you can see this is an area that the school district made improvement on.”

All four groups polled indicated they are seeing fewer discipline problems in schools now than in 1998.

Favorable responses to the question increased by 20.8 percentage points from 1998 to 63.2 percent for students and by 20 percentage points to 69.9 percent for teachers.

Those were the largest increases on any survey question for those two groups.

Among teachers, 85.1 percent said the principal at their school is an effective leader.

Results of that question, like every other one, were broken down on a school-by-school basis. Watson said principals who received high ratings were commended, and issues “that need attention” have been addressed.

Compared to the 1998 survey, the district did backslide on some questions.

When asked if teachers emphasize student learning and achievement is most important for students, just 66 percent of students agreed. The response was down 16.9 percentage points from the 1998 survey, the biggest drop on any question.

“We were all confused about this one … ,” Watson said. “It declined, but yet our test scores and performances go up.”

A question that consistently drew lower scores from students, parents and teachers was whether or not students help plan classroom activities.

Only 50.2 percent of students and 51.8 percent of parents said students receive input in the classroom. On the teachers’ survey, 71.8 percent indicated they frequently give students chances to plan activities, down 7.7 percentage points from 1998.

The lower numbers could be caused by the increased accountability demanded of schools allowing for less flexibility in the classroom, Watson said.

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Staff Writer Jeremy Ashton can be reached at 704-735-3031 or jashton@ltnews.com.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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