The
Durango School District 9-R Board of Education commissioned
Durango consultant David Kolb with Incite Learning,
Inc., to develop an online survey of Durango High School
faculty,
staff, students, and families to better understand
the perceptions they may have about
the high school, the high school administration,
central administration, and the school board.
The
board selected Durango High School as District 9-R's
pilot site, because the high school’s “attendance
area” encompasses
the entire district, and therefore, its enrollment
and families are representative of the district’s
economic, vocational, and ethnic diversity. The board
conducted
the survey as part of its work to develop more effective
monitoring assessments for its policies. The survey
questions were similar to questions developed for a
district-wide
survey conducted in the Farmington, N.M., school
district by Incite Learning.
The
survey asked respondents to rank various attributes
on a seven-point scale about the high school, its teachers/staff,
the high school
administration, district-level administration, and
the school board. Respondents were asked to comment
on any
low (1-2) or high (6-7) ratings they selected.
The
survey instrument was placed on a Web site for easy
response. Each respondent was assigned a login ID and
password
to ensure
that he or she filled out the survey only once. Incite
Learning launched the survey for faculty, staff,
and students the week of Nov. 6. Faculty and staff
were notified
by e-mail, and students were notified by public address
and by teachers in their advisory classes. The week
of Nov. 13, the Public Information Office sent postcard
invitations to participate in the survey to 1,288
unduplicated
DHS family addresses and followed with a reminder
letter the week of Dec. 11. The survey closed Friday,
Dec. 22.
