Rusk ISD exit survey a helpful tool

Homepage

Discussion

September 12, 2012

Rusk ISD exit survey a helpful tool

Faith Harper Jacksonville Daily Progress The Jacksonville Daily Progress Wed Sep 12, 2012, 08:19 AM CDT

RUSK — An annual internal survey of Rusk ISD graduating seniors shows an increase in student satisfaction compared to previous years.

High school principal Scott Schwartz revealed the results of the Lifetracks Survey to board members Monday night. He said every year the graduating class is asked to complete a survey of their high school experience for internal use of the district.

“We get a lot of quantitative feedback,” Schwartz said. “The state gives us plenty of quantitative feedback, scores, demographics — everything of that nature — but as far as how the kids feel about certain aspects of high school, this survey gives a good bearing on what the kids are thinking as a collective.”

The results show a large decrease in the number of students who plan to attend a two-year college, from 60 percent with the class of 2011 down to almost 37 percent for the class of 2012. However, the number of students who plan to attend a four-year college jumped almost 10 percent from about 26 to nearly 36 percent. Those who plan to attend vocational school is up 6 percent, and those who plan to join the military is up by about 7 percent.

“Really and truly, if you take the loss from the two year colleges and spread them out to vocational tech and military, it stayed relatively about the same,” Schwartz said. “The thing that I love about it about 90 percent of kids who are graduating have some type of plan of what they want to do to pursue their further education through some type of course of study.”

Almost 92 percent of students responded that they felt they had adequate access to information and guidance on avenues to pursue after high school, compared to almost 85 percent for the class of 2011.

Superintendent Scott Davis said the district is working to make this number 100 percent next year. He said each senior and their parents will schedule a time with a guidance counselor to discuss secondary education options.

About 88 percent responded they were adequately prepared for the transition to college or the workplace and 89 percent said they felt they received an adequate education at the high school.

Students were asked if they felt like the staff cared for them, ranking their responses from excellent to insufficient.

About 36 percent ranked the school excellent in the category, another 36 percent ranked them good and about 19 percent ranked it as average. About 19 percent of the 2011 graduating class ranked the district as excellent, 35 percent as good and 37 percent as average.

“I feel like this is the No. 1 thing in my mind because as teachers and educators sometimes it's very hard to challenge students,” Schwartz said. “That's a job. But as far as why we do what we do, we come to school every day to care about kids, and I really want to stress that.”

The survey also gained responses on expectations on student conduct and standards for the quality of work to be completed.

Davis said the district could learn a lot from its students.

“They are active participants in their education,” he said.

Text Only

Homepage

Search Results

Discussion

Rusk ISD exit survey a helpful tool

Site Map

Contact Us