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Climate survey gets ‘unhealthy’ response
By Denise Dick
By DENISE DICK
YOUNGSTOWN
City-school students and staff surveyed at the end of the last academic year about school climate rated most elements at the unhealthy level.
The city school district last year contracted with Muskingum Valley Educational Service Center of Zanesville to conduct the school- climate survey. The district paid $150,000 to the ESC to develop and monitor systemic changes designed to remove nonacademic barriers to student learning. The survey is part of that work.
Superintendent Wendy Webb presented an overview of the results to the Academic Distress Commission at a meeting Monday. Full results are expected to be available later this week on the district’s website.
Results were based on a desirability rating system with 90 percent or higher being “optimal,” 76 percent to 89.9 percent “desirable” and 75 percent or lower “unhealthy.”
“I’m sorry to say but you’ll find a lot of unhealthy [ratings] in the survey,” Webb said.
The responses from elementary students were a little more positive than those from middle and high school students, she said.
In the elementary schools, 10.5 percent of responses fell into the “optimal” category, with 0 from middle/high school and 3 percent from staff.
Under “desirable” were 63.5 percent of elementary-student responses, 34 percent from middle/high and 19 percent from staff.
Most of the items included on the survey fell into an “unhealthy” range by student and staff responses — 25.5 percent from elementary school students, 65 percent from middle and high school students and 78 percent from staff.
Questions covered students’ perceptions of school, parent and teacher expectations of them, involvement in activities and peer relations.
Surveys of staff, including teachers and other employees, dealt with maximizing opportunities for academic learning, youth development and addressing nonacademic barriers to student success.
One item under view of school asked staff members whether the school has a positive climate. The highest percentage, 39.7 percent, of those surveyed answered “to a great extent.”
Under externalizing behaviors about whether students are physically aggressive, 37 percent of the staff answered “sometimes.”
In other business, commission members invited Roger Nehls, chairman of the schools’ fiscal-oversight commission, and Anthony Catale, school-board president, to be present at the next academic-commission meeting Sept. 20.
Some school-board members have asked for a meeting among the board and two commissions to ensure the district is able to pay for the academic-recovery plan.
RESULTS AND DEMOGRAPHICS
City-school students and staff were surveyed last year about their views on school climate. Some
results and demographics:
By Denise Dick
Elementary students
Family situation, number, percentage:
Live with both parents, 706, 40.6 percent.
Live with mom, 748, 43 percent.
Live with dad, 86, 4.9 percent.
Live with grandmother or grandfather, 84, 4.8 percent.
Live with someone other than mom or dad, 76, 4.4 percent.
No response, 41, 2.4 percent.
Middle/High School
Family situation, number, percentage:
Live with both parents, 317, 23.5 percent.
Live with mother, 626, 46.3 percent
Live with father, 61, 4.5 percent.
Parents live separately and time split between, 157, 11.6 percent.
Live with another caretaker, 125, 9.3 percent.
No response, 65, 4.8 percent.
Staff
View of school:
Has highly qualified teachers: hardly at all, 0.4 percent; somewhat, 4.3 percent; mostly, 19.6 percent; to a great extent, 66 percent; don’t know, 2 percent; no response, 7.7 percent.
Is safe: hardly at all, 2.4 percent; somewhat, 10.2 percent; mostly, 24.6 percent; to a great extent, 53.5 percent; don’t know, 1.6 percent; no response, 7.7 percent.
Source: School climate survey conducted by Muskingum Valley Educational Service Center