Andi Steaban

Dave Mroue
Klaressa Howery
Survey Evaluation
1. What is the title of the survey?
Student Perception Survey
2. What is the stated purpose of the survey?
Students were verbally told that the purpose of this survey was
to gather student views and opinion about how to improve the
school. Results were used as part of the process for AdvanEd
accreditation.
3. Who are the intended respondents for the survey?
All grade 6-8 students at South Lake Middle School
4. How long did it take you to respond to the survey? Did this match the
estimate contained in the instructions (if included)?
Teachers were instructed that the survey could be completed
during first hour. Students were able to complete the survey in
this time frame.
5. Review each item. Are there items that:
a. are worded poorly?
There are not questions that are worded poorly, however, there
is some concern if there are students with low reading levels.
b. have ambiguous content?
i. Various questions referred to adults in the school as
compared to certain subsets of adults like teachers, or
administrators. Students responded differently to similar
questions as subsets being referred to became more
narrow.
ii. In my school, Im learning new things that will help me.
The concern is how students will interpret the word help.
iii. In my school, my principal and teachers have high
expectations of me. The concern is with the
understanding of interpretation and understanding of high
expectations.
c. have multiple issues embedded within a single question?

d.
e.
f.
g.
h.

In my school, my principals and teachers have high

expectations of me. This question should be broken down
into two questions, one for principal and one for teachers.
seem inappropriate for the purpose of the survey?
All questions are appropriate.
contain bias (e.g., racial, gender, linguistic, social, etc.)?
No questions contain bias.
appear to be leading questions
No questions appear to be leading questions
contain unnecessary or sensitive information?
No questions contain unnecessary or sensitive information.
Do the items appear in a logical order?
The survey starts out with four factual questions. Following
are groups of questions divided into Purpose and Direction
(4), Governance and Leadership (6), Teaching and
Assessing for Learning (21), Resources and Support
Systems (10), Using Results for Continuous Improvement
(7). At the end there are three open response questions
regarding what students like least and best about the
school and what they would like to improve.
The survey is organized based on the categories that
AdvancEd uses for accreditation, but it doesnt make sense
for students taking the survey. Many of the questions
seem to jump from topic to topic unless you are familiar
with the AdvancEd categories.

6. Review the response formatting:

a. Are the directions for each change in response format clear?
Yes, the first format is categorical and students click the
appropriate button. The second format was ordinal where
students chose a ranking for each question by clicking button.
Lastly, students could type in their responses to the three open
ended questions.
b. Is the response format appropriate for the age and skill of
respondents?
Yes, student are very familiar with the computer technology that
this survey was administered on.
c. Does the response format provide adequate options for
respondents?

It might be beneficial if students were given the opportunity to

give more specific information on questions like the ones that
referred to all adults.
d. Are there any problems with the response formats not already
noted?
No.
7/8. Overall, what is your impression of the survey? (Length, font, use
of white space, c clarity, etc.)? What changes would you recommend?
The length of the survey is too long for the age it is intended for.
Reorganizing the questions into groups that would make sense
from a middle school students point of view (School Leadership,
Learning, Resources, Environment/Safety) and eliminating some
of the redundant questions would help. Some of the questions
are slightly wordy. The use of shading to separate questions
makes it easier for the responder to follow along. The font size
for the questions should be increased to at least 12 points. The
option of N/A may be distracting for student. Students may
choose this if they are confused by a question or are indecisive
about an answer. It may be better to use a choice such as I
dont understand this question.