December Board of Ed: accountability survey results

Curtin: we did commit to surveying the field at the new accountability system
"last look back at this year...then transition into looking forward"
Commissioner interested in where improvements can be made
survey sent to superintendents, stakeholders in field
439 responses
different types of questions
Sagan: how many sent to?
there's some math going on here...
Sagan: we didn't hear from the majority: "are these the happy ones, the unhappy ones?...did we learn anything more from this?"
Curtin: in any survey you get some who feel strongly one way or the other, and some in the middle
West: it was not anonymous
small majority either satisfied or very satisfied
majority in every category either understood well or most
higher on district level, lower on school level
numbers on satisfied were lower for charter school respondents and higher for regional vo-techs
how did understanding impact satisfaction? Not much
"kind of gives me a bit of feeling that people have a defined feeling about accountability systems, potentially regardless of understanding"
two-thirds of respondents said the normative (comparing districts/schools) is valuable or very valuable
(the regional vo-techs like it the most)
smaller number saying satisfield or very satisfied for criteron-referenced (compare against yourself), but still a majority
lowest performing students, lowest performing subgroups found valuable
chronic absentee rate majority did not find valuable
about the weighing: around half on each says to keep it the same
note coming in that the high schools are all doing pretty well on MCAS, so keeping the same or increasing
"the problem here is we only have a hundred percent"
Peyser: did you look at where the answers were coming from?
Curtin: yes, around achievement and growth; generally those wanting more on growth, were not doing as well around achievement
Peyser: did you ask about better/worse than prior system?
Curtin: in hindsight, I wish I had; we didn't
non-high school suggested additions (only had 130 responses): most were "no" some on climate, access to art, educator attendance, suspension, school spending, K-2 schools
high school suggested additions: broader definition of advanced coursework, postsecondary enrollment, extracurricular participation, 9th grade success
and anything else?
small size issues and participation; chronic absenteeism; use of standardized testing; high-performing districts "are penalized" because they still have to move forward; call for consistency; need for state funding

Moriarty: can't be thinking of chronic absenteeism and excused and unexcused
"that really does say there's a disconnect in the field around knowledge level"
Curtin agrees, when a student can be counted in attendance isn't necessarily understood
"we need to make sure on the reporting side that the definitions are understood"
I don't think that's a misunderstanding, to be honest.