TELL Vermont is an anonymous statewide survey of licensed school-based educators. This includes full and part-time teachers, administrators, media coordinators, counselors, classroom assistants, and clerical support staff. Sponsored by the Vermont Agency of Education and Vermont NEA, the goal is to assess teaching conditions at the school, district and state level.
The 2013 survey was taken in March and April. A VEA representative in each school was to receive instructions to work with administrators to set up a faculty meeting to distribute letters with anonymous survey access codes. Teachers were allowed to switch letters in the same school to further randomize their response codes. Anyone not in attendance was to have been met with personally to explain the process.
Administrators and support personnel answered different questions than the teachers. Teachers accounted for over 68% of the results across the state; administrators just under 2%.
Schools that had more than 50% response rate were fully included in the results.
Statewide, 6,699 educators out of a possible 12,210 responded. Questions asked about perceptions of teaching and planning time available, facilities and resources, and community support and involvement.
Other questions were about perceptions of student conduct, teacher leadership, ESP leadership, school leadership, professional development, and instructional practices and support.
State Results
Overall, more than 80% of Vermont educators surveyed say they have access to office equipment, communications technology and instructional materials, their schools are clean and well-maintained, and the environments are supportive of learning.
Vermont schools also get high marks (about 80% reporting) for two way communication with parents and parent involvement.
Vermont teachers say they have access to training and professional development, though some question follow up and how development is assessed.
Just about 57% of Vermont teachers feel there is an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect in their schools, and that faculty and leadership have a shared vision. Less than half think their faculty has an effective process for making group decisions.
While 80% think class sizes are reasonable, the number drops closer to half saying they have time to collaborate with colleagues, have non-instructional time, or time to meet the needs of all students.
Local Results – Academy School
Over 68% responded at Academy School, with 20 surveys total.
Academy scored pretty well with time and class sizes, generally beating the state averages by 20 or so points in most categories. Academy had 100% agreement that teachers are protected from duties that interfere with their essential role of educating students.
Academy was highly rated for teachers having access to instructional materials, but dropped to 75% saying they had access to sufficient instructional technology. Academy rated 100% for access to copiers and pens (state average 89,7%), access to support personnel (state average 74.3%), and being a clean and well-maintained school (state average 81.5%).
Only 66% said that parents and guardians are influential decision makers, about on par with the 67% state average. Academy got high marks for reaching out to parents and guardians. 100% replied that the school is encouraging parent and guardian involvement, 100% said parents and guardians are being informed, and 100% agreed that the community is supportive of the school.
66.7% reported that parents and guardians are influential decision makers at the school.
General student conduct at Academy was rated well, too, though numbers dropped off a bit when asked if “students at this school follow rules of conduct.” (70.6%)
Teachers being recognized as experts, being trusted, and solving problems was reported to be positive at Academy, often 20-30 percentage points above state average responses.
ESP leadership, respect, and decision making involvement scored poorly for Academy, but trust and mutual respect at the school was reported to be higher than state averages and school leadership showed better than average results. 85% reported that the faculty and leadership have a shared vision (state average is 59.1%). 90% reported that there is an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect.
Professional development opportunities were rated well, but as with the state results, follow up and evaluation of these programs rated poorly.
Under 50% said they received timely state assessment data at Academy, but 100% of teachers reported using that data to inform their practices once they do get the information.
Overall, Academy scored 83.3% for “my school is a good place to work and learn.” Wages and benefits were felt to be low.
Local Results – Green Street
Green Street had a low response rate of under 50%, (13 surveys) and some questions didn’t get enough answers to qualify for a result in the survey. Nonetheless, there is some data to look at, it it wasn’t very good.
Only 38.5% reported that class sizes are reasonable and teachers have time to meet the needs of all students.
Green Street did get high marks (100%) for teachers having access to phones, copiers, paper, and pens, but just one third said they had proper access to instructional technology.
84.6% report that parents and guardians are influential decision makers in the school. 61.5% say the community is supportive of the school.
Only 30.8% agree that “students at this school follow rules of conduct.”
Teachers as leaders are rated well (84.6%, but don’t feel respected as decision makers (38.5%).
A startling 25% report that the faculty and leadership have a shared vision, and that number drops to 16.7% feeling an “atmosphere of trust and mutual respect.” School leadership scores low for Green Street.
Like other Vermont teachers, development opportunities exist, but follow up and evaluation of them is lacking. 18.2% report that professional development is evaluated and communicated to teachers.
Timely sharing of state assessment data is rated low at 22%. Once it comes, 90% of teachers use it.
61.5% of responses said that Green Street “is a good place to work and learn.”
Local Results – Canal, Oak Grove
Canal Street – Oak Grove had a 100% response rate, with 17 surveys returned.
88.2% rated class sizes and teaching time to be reasonable. Only 52.9% felt teachers had time to collaborate, however.
Average hours scheduled and actually worked was identical at 83.3%.
Like other local schools, Canal-Oak Grove was rated 100% for some facilities questions, including access to phones, copiers, paper and pens. Here, however, they also got 100% for access to instructional technology.
78.6% said that parents and guardians are influential in the school. 100% felt that the community supported the school.
88.2 % of students were said to follow the rules of conduct. Only 75% felt policies and procedures were clearly understood by the faculty.
82.4% said teachers were recognized as experts. 50% said teachers had an appropriate influence on decision making at the school.
75% said the faculty and leadership have a shared vision, while 57.1% report at atmosphere of trust and mutual respect. A mere 37.5% felt teachers could raise important issues and concerns.
Again, development opportunities are reported to be ample, but follow up and results are rated poorly.
66% say the state assessment data arrives in time to be useful, but 87.5% using it if they get it.
47.1% of teachers say they have autonomy to make decisions about instructional delivery, much lower than the state average of 85%.
91.7% said Canal – Oak Grove was a good place to work and learn.
Local Results – Brattleboro Area Middle School
BAMS had a 79.17% response rate. 30 surveys were returned.
93.3% said class sizes and time was reasonable. 60% said they had time to collaborate with colleagues. Only 50% reported enough time to meet the needs of all students.
Teachers reported being 100% scheduled in an average week, but actually working 75% of the hours.
BAMS had access to copiers and paper. 73.3% reported having access to technology for instruction. Two-thirds were happy with the speed of their internet service.
26.7% said that parents and guardians were influential decision makers for the school. 60% felt the school did a good job of encouraging their involvement. 59.3% felt parents and guardians contributed to the success of students. 82.1% thought the community supported the school.
Just 53.3% felt students were following the rules of conduct, according to the results. 36.7% felt school administrators enforce rules consistently.
73.3% said teachers were recognized as experts. 30% felt the faculty had an effective process for the group to solve problems. 36.7% reported that teachers have an appropriate level of influence of decision making.
ESP leadership, like the other schools, got low to mixed ratings.
Only 43.3% felt the faculty and leadership have a shared vision, and even fewer (40%) reported an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect.
Following the trend, professional development opportunities are available, but follow up and evaluation is lacking.
48.3% said that state assessment data got to them in time to be useful. 70% said they use it.
BAMS teachers weren’t thrilled with salary or benefits, but 83.3% reported the school to be a good place to work and learn.
Local Results – Brattleboro Union High School
BUHS had a 64.95% response rate, totalling about 48 surveys.
Only 27.7% of BUHS teachers reported enough time to collaborate with colleagues, though 86.7% said class sizes and time was reasonable.
Teachers reported 100% of time being scheduled, with 76.9% of hours actually worked.
72.9% felt that technology for learning was sufficient, and 91.8% said they had access to copiers, pens, and paper. 67.3% said that the internet was reliably fast.
63% said that parents and guardians were influential decision makers in the school. 93.3% felt the community was supportive of the school.
55.1% felt that students followed the rules of conduct. 64% felt that school administrators enforced rules consistently.
75.5% said that teachers were recognized as experts.. 49% felt the faculty had an effective process for making group decisions to solve problems. 55.6% thought teachers had an appropriate level of influence on decision making at BUHS.
ESP leadership received low scores.
Just 66.7% reported that the faculty and leadership have a shared vision. 60.4% reported an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect. 52.6% said that teacher evaluation procedures were consistent.
Again we see opportunities for professional development, and little follow up or evaluation.
Only 36.6% say they receive timely state assessment data. 67.4% use it once it arrives. Alignment with Common Core is slightly higher at BUHS than in the lower schools. 54.4% say that the curriculum is aligned with Common Core. This is just below the state average of 55.6%
Over 80% said BUHS was a good school to work and learn.
Reading the Results
The survey creators hope people look at the positive results and use the survey to inform and improve teaching in Vermont.
In reporting these numbers, there are a few things to note. This is just a summary and you should look at the results yourself. I’d like to hear your interpretation.
I tried to highlight things I saw and found interesting. There are fine-tuned, multi-part responses to many of the questions, and some questions are asked more than once in different ways which leads to a bit of conflict in some results.
In most cases, schools had fewer survey results than most iBrattleboro polls. Be aware that these result may be skewed somewhat by small response totals and percentages.
Note, too, that these questions are based on perceptions.
In broad strokes, it seems that those taking the survey locally are saying they could use a boost in technological resources for the classroom. It looks like they’d like to have more say in the process of education, and to be respected and have administrators they can trust. It appears that parents and guardians could and should play a greater role in the education of children.
Development and training opportunities need to become more than simply going through the motions. Teachers would like schools to follow up and evaluate professional development efforts. Teachers also need more time to collaborate and share what they know about learning and teaching, to take better advantage of in-house expertise.
The state needs to get assessment data to teachers in time for it to be useful. And, students should become better followers of rules of conduct.
