EHanover KPBSD Student Survey

This report marks our second year of partnering with Hanover Research to deliver a social/emotional and school climate survey to our KPBSD students in grades 3-12.  Here is an executive summary of the results.

Based on survey results, Hanover recommends that Kenai Peninsula Borough School District:

• Utilize strategies and programs to help students obtain a more positive mindset. Students report stagnant or higher agreement with statements such as “My intelligence is something that I can’t change very much” (Figure 2.5). It is important for students to understand that intelligence is malleable and that expertise and mastery of a subject takes practice. An example strategy to create a more positive mindset for students is to encourage mistakes and to help students understand that making mistakes is part of becoming an expert in any subject.
• Focus on strategies to make learning fun for students. A statistically significant drop (from 81% to 78%) from 2018 to 2019 was found in students reporting that they think school is fun (Figure 2.3). Strategies to make learning fun for students can include hands-on experiments, outings, student-led discussions, or making an assignment a game.
• Help students to feel more confident in their self-regulatory abilities. Students indicate that they are more confident in their ability to respect and be civil with others. However, they feel least confident when it comes to their own abilities to remain calm under stress or clearly communicate their feelings (Figure 2.4). Informing students about strategies to remain calm, such as one-minute breathing exercises for example, can help students’ confidence in the face of future stressful events.

Key Findings

• Results from the 2019 student survey are largely similar to the 2018 results. Though the overall scale scores decreased slightly in 2019, only a handful of items display statistically significant differences.
• Students indicate that they care about their community and are encouraged to do their best. Mirroring results obtained from 2018, Grade 6-12 students report that they care about their community (85%; down one point from 2018) and that they are encouraged to do their best (81%; down one point from 2018). Compared to 2018, a significant decrease in grade 6-12 students reporting that they have at least one teacher who makes them excited about the future (78% vs. 81%). However, a significant increase for students reporting that their principal frequently asks students about their ideas was found between 2018 and 2019 (44% vs. 47%, respectively), yet this is still the lowest scoring item in the Community and Connectedness Scale (Figure 2.3).
• Students feel similarly safe and welcome in 2019 as they did in 2018 but fewer report having fun at school and attempting to stop bullying. Nearly three quarters of all Grade 6-12 students report three things: their school is welcoming to students and their families, adults at their school treat students with respect, and that they feel safe at their school (Figure 2.4). Students report, however, that there is a decrease from 2018 to 2019 in having fun at school (64% vs. 61%, respectively) and that other students try to stop students from being picked on (55% vs. 50%, respectively).
• Students note more confidence in their ability to get along with others but have less confidence in their self-regulatory abilities. Students in Grade 6-12 have scores on the Social-Emotional Learning Scale that mirror results obtained from the 2018 survey. If a scale item changed, it changed by only one point (either increasing or decreasing). Regardless, students note that they have the most confidence in their abilities to respect the opinions of others (82%), compliment other's accomplishments (82%), and get along with students different than themselves (81%). The social-emotional abilities that students report the least confidence in is their ability to clearly describe their feelings (51%) and remain calm under stress (62%; Figure 2.5).
• Overall student mindset scores decreased slightly from 2018 to 2019 (5.52 to 5.42). For all but two items on the Student Mindset Scale, students report lower scores, some by non-significant margins and others by significant margins. For example, in 2018 81% of students report that they came to class prepared while 77% report coming to class prepared in 2019. Additionally, students' beliefs in malleable intelligence (e.g., "If I am not naturally smart in a subject, I will never do well in it") significantly increased from 2018 to 2019 (63% disagreement vs. 61% disagreement). In regard to increases, 93% of high school seniors are confident that they will graduate in 2019, while only 90% were confident in 2018 (Figure 2.6).