As a candidate for GWRSD School Board, it would be my highest priority to put into place, a means to collect, measure, understand, and disseminate current data and trends to all stakeholders in our district towns. The technology exists and should be considered by the board as a way to utilize ESSER (COVID money) funds which will not burden the existing budget. The NH Department of Education uses Panorama to collect and extrapolate data to provide to the public. It would be in the best interests of our students, teachers, and parents to do the same.
“Panorama pulls your key student information into one spot and gives you visual dashboard reporting. Move from interpreting data to taking action and improving student outcomes.”
The Spring 2021 603 Bright Futures Survey is now available to view online. There is A LOT of information here and it's a lot to plow through, but there are some important take-aways as you drill deeper into the data. This survey was offered to Governor Wentworth Regional School District teachers/staff and also families of students. It is interesting to compare the differing and corresponding attitudes of these two groups. As well, the survey was offered state-wide in New Hampshire and one may use the data comparatively against other school districts. There is also a benchmark graph on each survey result to see where each individual school or district compares against the NH average.
The image above shows a screenshot of the 2021 Governor Wentworth Regional School District (GWRSD) Guardian Survey. Here we can see color-coded percentages that show the percent of positive responses to a specific group of questions. For instance, you can see at Kingswood Regional High School, only 28% of GWRSD families felt positively about the school's family engagement performance while 51% felt positively about their interactions with Effingham Elementary School.
Take it a step farther, and you can see more information regarding 'Community Engagement' and then drill a bit deeper into the data.
Here we see that based on the response of parents and guardians, 54% of all respondents felt their child's school district engaged them favorably. What that also means is that 46% did not, however, the benchmark for comparison was 50% across all NH schools.
Above, we may also see that 32% of families felt there were TOO many COVID safety measures implemented at their child's school, while 2% thought there needed to be more and 66% felt it was just the right amount.
Apologies this may be a bit blurry, but this survey also takes into account the VERY important attitudes of our district staff and teachers. For instance, 25% of staff responded they are NOT AT ALL SATISFIED with the time they have to collaborate with other teachers.
I feel it is of the utmost importance that we use technology in a way that helps us understand what is working and what is not working. Surveys and assessments give us benchmarks, help to formulate both long and short-term goals, and then gives us a roadmap on how to successfully arrive at our destination.
Let me know what you want to see more of in these blog posts.