Assignment #5

Designing and Evaluating a Short Survey

I chose to design a survey for the staff at Bishop Murray High School with the intention of discovering what programs are beneficial to help retain First Nations Students. According to the statistics I acquired from the school, graduation rates for First Nations students continues to be much lower than the other students. I felt it was important to survey teachers who have been working with First Nations and other struggling students for many years.

My experience has taught me that working as a team is much more beneficial, therefore, I asked for assistance from teachers who work at the school. Before I started to design the survey, I interviewed a staff member to discuss the various programs that are offered, the alternative structure of the school, the staff involvement, as well involvement from outsides partners. I examined pre-existing charts, statistics, program brochures and the 2013 school handbook. Next I reflected on my logic model focusing on my short, medium and long term outcomes. I prepared a list of questions that I felt reflected the assumed needs of First Nations students and the programs being offered. A second meeting took place to review the questions, determine if the instructions were clear and decide if there was overlap within the survey. Two staff members provided input; advice was given, discussed and received gratefully.

I made three surveys in total. The first one, as discussed above, I did not post but changes were made as outlined below.

#3– The staff members felt that I needed to change Recreation Activities to Recreation and Wellness because there was some overlap in my original question. They also remembered a program that had not been mentioned so I added “Quad Program” to the list as well as a smaller scale “Breakfast Program” that they agreed was important to include. 

#6 We discussed the importance of using the term “cohesive staff unit” and decided that the majority of teachers who choose to work in an alternative setting are very motivated to see improvements and work as a team. Therefore, we omitted it.

#7 We noticed a grammar error.

#8 We noticed a grammar and spelling error.

Before I asked the participants to complete the survey, I made sure that I used a color (blue) that historically speaking, provides a better response/return. I also made the questions in bold type and ensured that all of the writing had the same font size.

Here is the second survey after we made the changes agreed upon above. I copied and pasted it to word. I wasn't sure how to make question 6 fit properly but it looked fine on the survey link. It is also posted a second time and the criteria turned out just fine there. As well, some circles in question six did not show up. Oh well, technology......

Bishop Murray Programming/Services for First Nations Students

 Please complete the following survey by February 28^th, 2013. Your responses will help to provide better programming for First Nations students at your school. Please be aware that all comments provided are confidential.

1. Do you feel Bishop Murray offers enough programs and support for First Nations students?

Do you feel Bishop Murray offers enough programs and support for First Nations students?  Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

*

2. Do you feel these programs help improve attendance and decrease dropout  rates for First Nations students?

Do you feel these programs help improve attendance and decrease drop out rates for First Nations students?  Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree 3. Number the Programs and Services offered at Bishop Murray from most helpful to least helpful. Most being 1 and least            being 10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 One Room School 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Block Program 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Daycare 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Adult 12 Program 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Career and Work Exploration 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Addictions Counseling 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Electives Program 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Recreation and Wellness Activities 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Quad Program 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Breakfast Program * 4. How informed did you feel about these programs when you first started teaching at Bishop Murray? How informed did you feel about these programs when you first started teaching at Bishop Murray?  Excellent Good Average Fair Poor * 5. Do you think it would be beneficial to receive specific information and updates on the programs being offered?  Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree 6. What items do you feel would increase First Nation students' attendance? Please rate the items on a scale from 1 (no impact) to 5 (very high impact).

	No Impact	Low Impact	Moderate Impact	High Impact	Very High Impact
Higher focus on        curriculum
More resources for          classroom instruction
Inservices for teachers
Diverse programming,                          including inquiry based
Increasing community                   work through        curriculum
Weekly staff and            admin communication
Follow through on         Personal Program       Plans
Increase of more staff          support in classrooms
HIgher focus on       wellness and Physical      Education
Facility/Building       improvements to        support programming
Scheduled ongoing       counselling for students
Increase in agency         support (Example:         mental health)

*

7. What do you think has been the most beneficial program or support for your First Nations students to date? Why?

8. What do you feel has been the least beneficial program or support for your First Nations Students? Why?

       *

9. In your opinion, what could be done to improve the programming at Bishop Murray High School for First Nations students?

         *

10. Since you have been working at Bishop Murray, do you think the programs have improved or changed? If so, in what ways?  

*

At this time If there is any additional information you would like to add on the programming or supports for First Nations students at your school, please feel free use the space below.

                            Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey!

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I sent the participants a link to the survey via e-mail. All of the participants completed it. Once I collected the responses, I compiled the results and made notes on the answers. I decided that more changes were needed as outlined below. 

Question # 8 Several responses given provided information but two of them did not. I believe the participants may have been worried about ‘slamming’ one of the programs. Therefore, I decided to rephrase the question.

Question #10 Because I used survey monkey, it only allowed for 10 questions and I was not able to ask for the participants to add any additional information within its own space.  Although they answered the questions in detail, on a larger scale I would be worried that additional information could be missed. Therefore, I would separate the two questions.

Here is the final copy of the survey that I would send out.

Bishop Murray Programming/Services for First Nations Students

 Please complete the following survey by February 28^th, 2013. Your responses will help to provide better programming for First Nations students at your school. Please be aware that all comments provided are confidential.

1. Do you feel Bishop Murray offers enough programs and support for First Nations students?

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

*

2. Do you feel these programs help improve attendance and decrease drop out rates for First Nations students?

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

*

3. Number the Programs and Services offered at Bishop Murray from most helpful to least helpful. Most being 1 and least being 10.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 One Room School

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Block Program

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Daycare

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Adult 12 Program

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Career and Work Exploration

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Addictions Counseling

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Electives Program

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Recreation and Wellness Activities

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Quad Program

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Breakfast Program

*

4. How informed did you feel about these programs when you first started teaching at Bishop Murray?

Excellent Good Average Fair Poor

*

5. Do you think it would be beneficial to receive specific information and updates on the programs being offered?

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

*

6. What items do you feel would increase First Nation students' attendance? Please rate the items on a scale from 1 (no impact) to 5 (very high impact).

	No Impact	Low Impact	Moderate Impact	High Impact	Very High Impact
Higher focus on curriculum
More resources for classroom instruction
Inservices for teachers
Diverse programming, including inquiry based
Increasing community work through curriculum
Weekly staff and administration communication
Follow through on Personal Program Plans (PPP's)
Increase of staff support in classrooms
Higher focus on wellness and Physical Education
Facility/building improvements to support programming
Scheduled ongoing counseling for students
Increase in agency support (example: mental health)

*

7. What do you think has been the most beneficial program or support for your First Nations students to date? Why?

 *

8. If you could choose a program to improve, which one would it be and how would you improve it? (You can mention more than one.)

*

9. In your opinion, what could be done to improve the programming at Bishop Murray High School for First Nations students?

*                 

10. Since you have been working at Bishop Murray, do you think the programs have improved or changed? If so, in what ways? 

  

11. At this time, If there is any additional information you would like to add on the programming or supports for First Nations students at your school, please feel free use the space below.

                     Thank you for taking the time to complete the survey!

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In conclusion, I would like to add that if I was taking the next class, I would design a survey for the students and administration as well. Gathering information from more stakeholders would provide a more thorough synopsis of the programming successes and areas that need improvement.