BEVERLY — Most students don't think writing, art, math, English language skills, class size, technology — or much of anything school-related, for that matter — are very important.
That was one of the findings of a survey in Beverly of more than 3,000 parents, teachers and students, which was designed to help the school chart a strategic plan for the next five years. The survey, which was conducted from Sept. 27 through Oct. 18, asked respondents to rate how effective Beverly Schools have been in 27 key areas having to do with student achievement, school operations, student and staff support and school culture.
Parents, teachers and students were also asked to rate the importance of each area. Overall, the vast majority of respondents — more than 80 percent on average for all 27 categories — thought Beverly schools were either "effective" or "extremely effective." Most parents (68 percent) and staff (72 percent) also thought areas such as math and science proficiency and class size were "highly important." The majority of students did not. In averaging each of the 27 categories, only 44 percent of Beverly students considered the issues "highly important," according to the survey.
"The numbers support a lot of the (national) research out there that indicates that students are not engaged to the level they should be," said Marie Galinski, the school superintendent. "Maybe it's because they don't believe what they're learning is relevant to where they're going."
Seventy five percent of the 2,193 Beverly students in the sixth through 12th grade took the survey.
The majority of students who responded "were middle school kids, and I think it's really hard to make middle school subjects relevant to kids," Galinski said. "We need to help them see the interconnections between the subjects. In the real world, you don't just do science and you don't just do language arts. Life is multidisciplinary."
The survey will help the school's planning committee — composed of teachers, parents and administrators — create an action plan; a sort of road map for the next five years. The committee has tagged student engagement as one of its three main goals for the near future. Four subcommittees focusing on technology, class size, school facilities and outsourcing are now meeting and will report to the planning committee in January. The committee hopes to complete the action plan by this spring.
In the interim, the school plans to have students meet in their monthly advisory groups to discuss why they feel the way they do.
As for the rest of the survey, "I think in general parents think we do a good job, which I was glad to see," Galinski said.
By the numbers:
Number of responses: 3,015SClBCommunity members: 1,005
School staff: 360
Students: 1,650
Areas cited by parents as areas of concern (low effectiveness, high importance):
SubjectEffectiveness of school*Importance of issue**
Math proficiency81%90%
Science proficiency81%79%
Teacher recruitment/retention 81%82%
Class size58%85%
Extra help for students75%74%
* percentage rating "Effective" or "Extremely effective."
** percentage rating "Highly important."
Areas cited by school staff as areas of concern (low effectiveness, high importance):
SubjectEffectiveness of school*Importance of issue**
Closing achievement gap81%81%
Math proficiency86%79%
Teacher recruitment/retention81%77%
Professional development62%72%
Class size48%83%
* percentage rating "Effective" or "Extremely effective."
** percentage rating "Highly important."
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