Perspective ... on developing a system for student feedback to teachers
By:
June E. Thompson
Published: September 1, 2011
Senate Bill 1422, initiated by the California Association of Student Councils and enacted in 2010, authorized student governments serving grades 9–12 in California to establish committees of students and teachers to develop surveys for the purpose of providing student feedback to teachers annually. It is intended to improve teachers’ effectiveness by providing them with information they cannot get from any other source.
Over the past 80 years, researchers have documented the reliability of student feedback to teachers when surveys were well designed and administered in multiple classes over more than one semester. Based on research done on the high school and college level, CASC developed guidelines for site-level committees. The program is designed to be voluntary and confidential, providing data only to the individual teacher. He or she retains exclusive control over who has access to the information.
Steps in creating a program
A small committee of students and teachers who are highly respected by the faculty should meet several times to discuss and agree on specific characteristics of effective teaching that will be measured through the survey. Committee members can review sample questions and surveys used in other schools and select or write specific questions. Useful questions measure teaching effectiveness rather than personality, for example.
However, some committees may choose to identify personal qualities that they believe enhance performance; research suggests that teaching effectiveness is enhanced at the high school level if teachers are perceived as knowledgeable, tolerant, interested in students as individuals, and good listeners with a sense of humor and a warm and friendly attitude.
The most effective questions determine the frequency that specific practices are engaged in by a teacher: “stimulates class discussion,” for example, or “grades fairly,” or “gives clear instructions.” At least four “forced-choice” response categories are recommended—those which give respondents a range of choices, such as Strongly Agree, Somewhat Agree, Somewhat Disagree, Strongly Disagree.
The committee should also discuss what would be useful to know about survey respondents, such as their year in school, ethnicity, gender, primary language spoken at home, or number of classes missed in a semester. Breaking down results by these components will provide useful information. Protecting the anonymity of individual students’ responses— best done by avoiding handwritten responses—is important, so they will feel free to express themselves honestly.
Timelines should be established. Optimum class periods and days for students to take the surveys should be considered—it’s a good idea to spread the process over several days, for example, so students are not asked to fill out a survey in every class on one day. And once the survey data are processed, enough time should be left in a semester for teachers to act on feedback received.
Additional steps:
- Decide on the format in which to present the data to teachers: charts, comparisons between classes, and other tables may be useful. For example, each teacher can receive a chart that breaks down responses to each question by class period. Another table can display the combined results on each question for all of a teacher’s classes compared to their department and total faculty. Still another table can provide feedback on each question for each year the teacher has participated. Explore options for processing the data and creating tables for displaying the results. Consider cost factors as well as sources of funding.
- Decide what data, if any, will be made available to administration. This might include question-by-question comparative departmental results, overall faculty results broken down by question, as well as comparative department and total faculty results from year to year. Releasing overall results does not violate the confidentiality of the process, as individual teacher data are still protected. Departmental data can provide principals and department heads with useful information concerning such topics as departmental grading policies, textbook selection, choice of supplementary materials and other considerations on which to base discussion for improvement.
- Schedule a presentation to faculty and distribute a draft survey for feedback and suggestions. A brief review of the research to support the reliability and validity of well-designed student surveys will be helpful. Review the process to be used in compiling the data, with an emphasis on security of the information. A useful option may be to allow room within the survey for departments to dictate their own questions. The timeline for administering the survey should also be discussed.
- Review faculty suggestions and revise the survey if necessary. Pretest the instrument by having a group of students fill it out and indicate what instructions or items need to be reworded.
- Inform the student body of the opportunity they will have to provide feedback to their individual teachers, and stress the importance of taking the survey seriously.
Once all the advance work has been done and the survey itself conducted, there are many options available for processing the data and presenting the results. If a district’s information technology department can’t process the results and prepare the charts, a new software program called Classroom Compass is now available to schools to use. Schools can also send completed surveys to CASC to be scanned. Individual teachers receive a secure password with which they can access their data online.
No matter how hesitant faculty members may be initially, it is important to launch the program with existing volunteers. Once participants receive their feedback and find it helpful, the word will spread through the faculty and the number of volunteers will increase over time.
It is important to inform the district office about the survey and what areas of effectiveness are being measured. Teachers are likely to seek information on workshops that they can attend to address weaknesses, and the district should be prepared to provide guidance.
The comprehensive data available to teachers through a well-designed survey of students provide information that cannot be accessed from any other source. Clients who are in the classroom daily—the students—are in the best position to give feedback on teaching methods, quality of the textbook, homework and their overall satisfaction with instruction.
June E. Thompson, Ph.D., is the executive director of the California Association of Student Councils.