FCPS teachers generally more positive about teaching conditions

Despite significant administrative turmoil at the district level, FCPS TELL Survey data show teachers to be slightly more positive about teaching and learning in the schools than in 2013. The only notable exception is that fewer faculty members believe that the district is making efforts to minimize the amount of routine paperwork teachers are required to do.

FCPS DATA

Fayette Co. (TELL KY 2015) (89.42% responded) Fayette County (TELL KY 2013) (97.68% responded)		Fayette Co. TELL KY 2015	Fayette County TELL KY 2013
Time
Q2.1	Please rate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statements about the use of time in your school.
	a. Class sizes are reasonable such that teachers have the time available to meet the needs of all students.	57.9%	55.0%
	b. Teachers have time available to collaborate with colleagues.	69.2%	69.7%
	c. Teachers are allowed to focus on educating students with minimal interruptions	68.5%	64.1%
	d. The non-instructional time provided for teachers in my school is sufficient.	63.4%	63.4%
	e. Efforts are made to minimize the amount of routine paperwork teachers are required to do.	53.8%	58.6%
	f. Teachers have sufficient instructional time to meet the needs of all students.	65.5%	60.4%
	g. Teachers are protected from duties that interfere with their essential role of educating students.	69.7%	69.3%
Facilities and Resources
Q3.1	Please rate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statements about your school facilities and resources.
	b. Teachers have sufficient access to instructional technology, including computers, printers, software and internet access.	80.8%	80.3%
	d. Teachers have access to reliable communication technology, including phones, faxes and email.	97.3%	94.9%
	e. Teachers have sufficient access to office equipment and supplies such as copy machines, paper, pens, etc.	79.2%	82.5%
	f. Teachers have sufficient access to a broad range of professional support personnel.	83.1%	83.5%
	g. The school environment is clean and well maintained.	88.5%	84.9%
	h. Teachers have adequate space to work productively.	87.6%	82.3%
	i. The physical environment of classrooms in this school supports teaching and learning.	89.7%	86.4%
	j. The reliability and speed of Internet connections in this school are sufficient to support instructional practices.	85.3%	74.1%
Community Support and Involvement
Q4.1	Please rate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statements about community support and involvement in your school.
	a. Parents/guardians are influential decision makers in this school.	70.8%	69.6%
	b. This school maintains clear, two-way communication with the community.	87.9%	85.6%
	c. This school does a good job of encouraging parent/guardian involvement.	88.8%	87.8%
	d. Teachers provide parents/guardians with useful information about student learning.	95.0%	93.9%
	e. Parents/guardians know what is going on in this school.	84.0%	81.9%
	f. Parents/guardians support teachers, contributing to their success with students.	73.4%	70.4%
	g. Community members support teachers, contributing to their success with students.	81.0%	78.1%
	h. The community we serve is supportive of this school.	82.4%	81.2%
Managing Student Conduct
Q5.1	Please rate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statements about managing student conduct in your school.
	a. Students at this school understand expectations for their conduct.	85.5%	84.6%
	b. Students at this school follow rules of conduct.	70.8%	66.2%
	c. Policies and procedures about student conduct are clearly understood by the faculty.	79.1%	78.7%
	d. School administrators consistently enforce rules for student conduct.	67.8%	65.6%
	e. School administrators support teachers' efforts to maintain discipline in the classroom.	78.1%	76.5%
	f. Teachers consistently enforce rules for student conduct.	75.0%	74.2%
	g. The faculty work in a school environment that is safe.	89.5%	88.5%
Teacher Leadership
Q6.1	Please rate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statements about teacher leadership in your school.
	a. Teachers are recognized as educational experts.	83.2%	81.5%
	b. Teachers are trusted to make sound professional decisions about instruction.	83.1%	80.8%
	c. Teachers are relied upon to make decisions about educational issues.	81.8%	80.0%
	d. Teachers are encouraged to participate in school leadership roles.	88.0%	86.1%
	e. The faculty has an effective process for making group decisions to solve problems.	70.0%	70.5%
	f. In this school we take steps to solve problems.	79.2%	78.2%
	g. Teachers are effective leaders in this school.	84.0%	82.4%
Q6.5	Teachers have an appropriate level of influence on decision making in this school.	65.4%	64.0%
School Leadership
Q7.1	Please rate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statements about school leadership in your school.
	a. The faculty and leadership have a shared vision.	75.9%	76.0%
	b. There is an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect in this school.	68.6%	66.4%
	c. Teachers feel comfortable raising issues and concerns that are important to them.	67.3%	64.9%
	d. The school leadership consistently supports teachers.	74.9%	72.0%
	e. Teachers are held to high professional standards for delivering instruction.	92.2%	91.3%
	f. The school leadership facilitates using data to improve student learning.	91.2%	91.3%
	g. Teacher performance is assessed objectively.	87.1%	84.1%
	h. Teachers receive feedback that can help them improve teaching.	86.1%	79.0%
	i. The procedures for teacher evaluation are consistent.	84.5%	83.5%
	j. The school improvement team provides effective leadership at this school.	79.6%	77.1%
	k. The faculty are recognized for accomplishments.	83.1%	83.4%
Q7.3	The school leadership makes a sustained effort to address teacher concerns about:
	a. Leadership issues	74.1%	72.8%
	b. Facilities and resources	86.1%	84.0%
	c. The use of time in my school	76.3%	74.6%
	d. Professional development	82.2%	80.8%
	e. Teacher leadership	82.4%	80.3%
	f. Community support and involvement	86.5%	83.9%
	g. Managing student conduct	75.5%	73.2%
	h. Instructional practices and support	86.7%	84.7%
	i. New teacher support	80.7%	79.4%
Professional Development
Q8.1	Please rate how strongly you agree or disagree with statements about professional development in your school.
	a. Sufficient resources are available for professional development in my school.	74.3%	71.3%
	b. An appropriate amount of time is provided for professional development.	78.4%	78.2%
	c. Professional development offerings are data driven.	80.7%	78.9%
	d. Professional learning opportunities are aligned with the school’s improvement plan.	90.7%	88.4%
	e. Professional development is differentiated to meet the needs of individual teachers.	65.9%	59.1%
	g. Professional development deepens teachers' content knowledge.	77.6%	74.4%
	h. Teachers have sufficient training to fully utilize instructional technology.	71.2%	67.9%
	i. Teachers are encouraged to reflect on their own practice.	95.4%	86.1%
	j. In this school, follow up is provided from professional development.	69.1%	60.8%
	k. Professional development provides ongoing opportunities for teachers to work with colleagues to refine teaching practices.	75.7%	72.7%
	l. Professional development is evaluated and results are communicated to teachers.	62.3%	53.8%
	m. Professional development enhances teachers' ability to implement instructional strategies that meet diverse student learning needs.	82.8%	81.2%
	n. Professional development enhances teachers' abilities to improve student learning.	86.4%	84.3%
Instructional Practices and Support
Q9.1	Please rate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statements about instructional practices and support in your school.
	a. State assessment data are available in time to impact instructional practices.	60.9%	56.4%
	b. Local assessment data are available in time to impact instructional practices.	84.7%	82.4%
	c. Teachers use assessment data to inform their instruction.	93.0%	90.0%
	d. Teachers work in professional learning communities to develop and align instructional practices.	88.1%	86.7%
	e. Provided supports (i.e. instructional coaching, professional learning communities, etc.) translate to improvements in instructional practices by teachers.	83.0%	80.7%
	f. Teachers are encouraged to try new things to improve instruction.	92.4%	90.3%
	g. Teachers are assigned classes that maximize their likelihood of success with students.	68.5%	65.6%
	h. Teachers have autonomy to make decisions about instructional delivery (i.e. pacing, materials and pedagogy).	81.2%	79.1%
	i. The curriculum taught in this school is aligned with Kentucky Core Academic Standards.	97.9%	96.1%
Overall
Q10.6	Overall, my school is a good place to work and learn.	83.7%	80.9%

This from KDE via FCPS:

Overall, Kentucky educators are more positive about teaching and learning conditions in their schools than they were in 2013, according to results from the latest Teaching, Empowering, Leading and Learning (TELL) Kentucky Survey presented to the Kentucky Board of Education.

This year a record 89.3 percent – almost 45,000 – of eligible school-based certified educators responded to the anonymous biennial survey, which was first given in 2011. The survey includes topics such as time, school leadership, teacher leadership, facilities and resources, professional development, community engagement and support, instructional practices and support, student conduct, and new teacher support. In addition, principals were surveyed about supports they receive from their school district. Research by the New Teacher Center has demonstrated these are essential elements of student achievement and teacher retention.

Statewide, Kentucky has seen continuous improvement in each area. In the 2015 survey, schools made the greatest improvements to areas with the least positive conditions in 2013:

• The amount of routine paperwork teachers are required to do is minimized.
• Professional development is evaluated, and the results are communicated to teachers.
• Class sizes are reasonable such that teachers have the time available to meet the needs of all students.
• State assessment data are available in time to impact instructional practices.
• Professional development is differentiated to meet the needs of individual teachers.
• Teachers have an appropriate level of influence in decision making in the school.

While time saw the most growth of any of the areas since 2013, it remained the least positively viewed area in the survey.

Since 2011, the Kentucky Department of Education and coalition partners have been actively working to improve school conditions using TELL Kentucky Survey data. Examples of resulting policies include:

• The new Professional Growth and Effectiveness System (PGES) incorporates use of the TELL data as a required component of the evaluation tool being developed to assess administrator effectiveness.
• The Consolidated District Improvement Plan (CDIP) and the Consolidated School Improvement Plan (CSIP) require the use of TELL data.
• The Kentucky Learning Forward initiative used 2011 TELL data when examining policy recommendations impacting the use of teachers’ time and continued opportunities for teachers to collaborate.

In addition, after a previous survey indicated technology in the schools was an issue, KDE requested and received an increase in technology funding to address the reliability and speed of Internet connections in local schools. As a result, there was an improvement in the number of positive responses on 2015 TELL Survey technology questions.

About 95 percent of surveyed schools (1,339 of 1,409) met or exceeded the 50 percent response rate threshold required to receive an individual school-level data report. All the results, including a statewide summary, are posted at www.tellkentucky.org.