Rocky View Schools’ 2010 satisfaction survey results yielded widespread praise from trustees, despite the division’s failure to meet all of its targets.
The report, delivered by RVS Superintendent of Schools Greg Bass, was completed in late August. Nearly 12,000 respondents took the May survey, nearly 2,000 more than last year, including 8,550 students in grades 4 to 12, 1,907 parents and 1,362 teachers.
“When you see an extra 2,000 fill out (a survey), it’s generally because they’re not happy,” said Ward 4 trustee Helen Clease. “That’s not the case, people are happy.”
“In tough budget years this is one of those items that would be easy to forego,” said Ward 7 Trustee Don Thomas of the survey. “The results are heartening and very, very good.”
Separate surveys were made for students, parents and teachers but followed a similar pattern to gauge the effectiveness of instruction, technology, future preparation, and equality in schools.
“I think it’s really tremendous that we have almost half our students in our jurisdiction filling out the survey,” said Colleen Munro, trustee of Ward 5.
Ninety per cent approval was the target rating for each question asked. Of the 21 student questions, none met the target.
Feeling welcome at school was met with 88 per cent approval, the highest positive response from students. The lowest, at 60 per cent endorsement, was whether students cared for one another at school. Despite being 30 per cent below the target, the figure was up two per cent from the previous year.
Teachers rated 15 of their 39 questions with a satisfaction rate over 91 per cent while an additional 17 rated between 80 and 90.
Receiving recognition at the jurisdiction level for their contributions was the lowest ranked satisfaction for teachers at 69 per cent.
Bass said he plans to meet with every RVS principal over the next two months to discuss results from each school.
“We were not prepared to accept good as good enough,” said Bass. “Were moving towards greatness.”
The school district plans to put the information into a database for future planning and improvement.
