By Kim Hilsenbeck
A question that is driving a Hays CISD survey – “Are students engaged in their schools?
The survey was conducted by K12 Insight, the same firm that conducted the employee and parent/community surveys.
The questionnaire gathered feedback on a variety of topics that influence student engagement.
The survey, conducted from Feb. 16 to March 6, 2015, had an overall participation rate of 30 percent. In other words, out of a possible 8,947 students who were invited to take the survey, 2,656 participated.
However, a much higher percentage of middle school students took the survey than their high school counterparts.
Results of the survey reflect only the perceptions and opinions of those students who participated in the survey and did not include participants who chose to skip a question.
Higher scores reflect stronger engagement.
The survey measured cognitive engagement through 16 questions on four topics. It measures social and emotional engagement through 42 questions on eight topics.
Taken together, all 56 questions measure overall student engagement.
Cognitive engagement
results
The weakest area of cognitive engagement for middle school students was class experience: My classes allow me to be creative.
The strongest area of engagement for this age group was Academic Support: My teachers encourage me to do my best.
For ninth and tenth graders, they were less engaged in terms of Relevance: I see how what I’m learning relates to the “real” world. This group was more strongly engaged in Academic Support.
The results were the same for upper classmen in terms of the strongest and weakest areas of engagement.
Social and emotional engagement results
The weakest area for all grade levels of students who participated was Acceptance: I am recognized for contributing to this school.
The strongest area of engagement for sixth-eighth graders and upperclassmen was Self-Management: I am nice to my teacher(s). For freshmen and sophomores, their strongest area of engagement was Future Aspirations: I believe I will continue my education after high school.
Overall Student Engagement
Overall engagement is determined from an aggregate score across all survey items. Higher scores reflect stronger engagement. The District’s Overall Engagement Score was 2.89 out of 4.
Middle school students who took the survey had higher engagement scores than their high school counterparts, with the exception of Live Oak Academy. Three schools, Barton, Wallace and Simon middle schools, had higher engagement scores than the district average. Live Oak Academy, Chapa and Dahlstrom middle schools had scores just below the district average.
Read the entire survey
The full results of the Hays CISD Student Engagement survey can be found on the Hays CISD website: www.hayscisd.net.
