- Kent School District
- Equity Council
- Student Equity & Inclusion Survey
Student Equity & Inclusion Survey
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Background
In December 2021, the Kent School District (KSD) Equity Council and the Equity & Strategic Engagement Team distributed a voluntary Equity & Inclusion Survey to all students enrolled in grades 6-12 at KSD schools. Students completed the survey between December 8, 2021 – January 7, 2022. This was the second consecutive year of administering the survey. Both years, the survey was administered online.
The survey included three parts which could be organized into quantitative, qualitative, and demographic responses. All questions were optional, and the survey was anonymous. 3,094 students of the over 13,600 enrolled in grades 6-12 responded to the 2021-22 KSD Equity & Inclusion Survey. Below are the Key Takeaways and Key Themes from this year’s survey. Click here to access the full dashboard of results.
The KSD Equity Council appreciates the support of students, families, and staff.
Current Context & Considerations
The number of student respondents declined from the school year 2020-21 to 2021-22. Unlike in 2020-21, students were completing the survey during fully in-person instruction this year. It may not have been as easy for students to access an online survey during an in-person school day compared to fully remote school days, as was the case in 20-21. Students may have also been experiencing survey fatigue from high exposure to surveys since their last Equity & Inclusion Survey. Additionally, the number of students who responded to the qualitative portions declined to about 200, perhaps because students were offered the opportunity to share their feedback in focus groups, which was not previously offered.
Key Takeaways
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How did students respond to questions about belonging?
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What were some of the significant changes in student responses?
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What were the key themes from qualitative responses?
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Limitations
There were some limitations on analysis of the survey and the ability to fully generalize about students’ preferences and voice.
The survey itself was conducted under a different academic setting in the 2021-22 school year than the 2020 Survey. Unlike in 2020, students were in-person for school, and therefore may not have been on their computers as much as they were in 2020. Because the survey is online, it may not have been as easy for them to complete it. Additionally, students have been surveyed more over the course of the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years than they have in the past. This may contribute to survey fatigue, or a lack of willingness to participate in another survey, especially an optional survey. There were also several events happening in schools across the district during this time which may have distracted students, including school closures due to threats and the spike of Omicron COVID-19 cases. All of these may have contributed to a lower survey participation rate in 2021-22. The overall participants represent about 10% of eligible students who were surveyed.
Regarding the qualitative results, there were several limitations. There were significantly fewer qualitative responses in the 2021-22 survey. Relevant responses represent the opinions of about 1% of students eligible to take the survey. This may have been due to survey administrators providing another option for feedback, focus groups, as well as the other factors already listed. There are also some other limitations to analysis. An extensive list of themes and subthemes was created to span the complex types of responses included in the survey results to be inclusive of the complexity of responses. Generating and coding these themes was done by a small group without intercoder validation or stakeholder input relating to the validity of themes.
Next Steps
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One
Following up with students who expressed a desire to be more involved with KSD’s commitment to creating inclusive and equitable space for students.
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Two
Partnering with educational leaders across KSD to deepen our understanding of these results from an intersectional perspective.
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Three
Utilizing the themes and suggested actions by students to inform how educational leaders in KSD can better serve students.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
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Why are we doing the survey?
We believe our student's voices can serve as a compass, helping us as teachers, district leaders, and parents identify specific levers to pull to improve equity in education, in our community, our nation, and our world. By asking students to reflect on their equity and inclusion experiences in our schools, the Equity Council believes that education leaders within KSD can use the actionable data to understand and improve our schools' racial and cultural climate and our district.
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When will the survey be available?
KSD students in grades 6-12 will be asked to complete our KSD Student Equity & Inclusion Survey starting on Wednesday, December 8th and have until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, December 17th to submit their responses. This survey is optional for students, students can skip questions they do not understand or prefer not to answer, and all survey responses will be kept private. Attached is a document with an overview of how students can access and what their communication looks like.
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What changes were made this year?
In response to feedback from last year we are currently doing or have completed the following:
- K-5 Engagement: We are working on a framework to engage our students in grades K-5 because their experiences are an integral part of the overall narrative in KSD.
- KSD Student Equity Survey Glossary (Click Here): Using a variety of resources and input from stakeholders across the district and community we developed a working glossary of key terms referenced in the survey. Our primary goal is for this to provide a shared language that is relevant to the survey context. Our secondary goal is to provide transparency and learning resources for families who might support their student in completing the survey or have their own desire to join in our effort to create a shared language.
- Data Communication: We are planning to take a more proactive approach to our engagement and practice in sharing the data from the survey. We will be using a variety of engagement strategies to make meaning of the data and connect to district initiatives and academic supports.
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How can you support your student?
- Families are invited to review the glossary and survey with their students as they take it or before. Survey links are only being sent to students to help ensure the data's integrity and that responses are only from students.
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When does the survey begin and end?
The survey begins on Wednesday, December 8th and closes at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, December 17.
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When will the results be available?
Districtwide survey results will be shared with the entire KSD community via our website in January.
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How were the questions chosen?
Questions in the survey have been adapted by members of the KSD Equity Council from the Panorama Equity and Inclusion Survey and the Iowa City Schools 2019 Survey. The KSD Research team was consulted in developing this survey.
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Do students have to answer?
Responding to this survey is optional for KSD students in grades 6-12. Students do not have to answer all the questions.
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Are students in grades 1-5 being surveyed?
At this time grades 1-5 are not being surveyed at this time but the Equity Council in partnership with families, community and members across the district are currently in the process of developing a framework that is accessible for students at that age.
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Is the survey only available in English
The survey is being provided in our top eight languages.
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Will KSD Staff and Families be given an Equity and Inclusion survey?
The KSD Equity Council has not fully developed a parent/guardian survey or staff survey but the council is making progress in this area with the intention of piloting these surveys during this school year.
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What happens if myself or my student doesn’t understand the terms used in the survey?
Definitions with examples and video learning resources of terms used in the survey may be found in our KSD Student Equity & Inclusion Survey Glossary. Student instructions include, "If you do not understand a question or statement or would prefer not to answer a question, you can move on without answering to the next question or statement."