The Learning Bar

Tell Them From Me (TTFM) addresses these problems by furnishing continuous feedback for a concise set of school indicators that are directly linked to school policy and practice. The evaluation focuses on each school's own progress, rather than on differences among schools. However, the results are linked to national benchmarks, such that schools can see how well they fare on certain indicators without being compared to particular schools.

TTFM Continuous Monitoring requires the district to upload some student data to our system, including name, grade, gender and postal code. It allows for customized data drill downs, and "replica school" lines for comparing results from a "school" of students with similar characteristics. As the name implies, this approach allows more frequent and on-going monitoring of the selected student outcomes.

TTFM Continuous Monitoring offers three Student Survey options for schools to choose from:

1. School Snapshot - twice-yearly results

This option is intended for smaller schools, with enrolments of less than 300 students. All students are invited to do the survey over the course of up to four weeks. Results are available immediately after the snapshot period. Schools can elect to do the survey on two occasions during the school year, usually Fall and Spring.

2. Classroom Selection - monthly results

This approach was designed for large schools. Schools with enrolments above 600 may find it challenging to implement the weekly Random Selection option. These larger schools can choose to have their students complete the survey by homeroom class, or by a specific subject classroom or a "guidance" homeroom, during school time.

This Classroom Selection option has one or more classrooms per grade level complete the survey in the same calendar month. The classroom unit chosen for survey purposes needs to be one that stays together for the whole year. To make this approach work best, we ask schools to ensure that:

• over the course of any calendar month, all participating grades have an equal number of classes complete the survey;
• an effort is made to get a balanced mix of student ability levels if classrooms are streamed for ability; and
• options are considered to allow all students an opportunity to participate in the survey, whether at school or from their home.

If it is still determined to be too ambitious to have all students take the survey at school, and in keeping with the principle that the voices of all students are important, students in a proportion of the school's classrooms can be surveyed at school, and the remainder can be invited to complete the survey as a "Start-up Snapshot" at the first of the year, or on their own time at school or at home.

Schools can choose in which months to do the survey, and how many classes will complete it each month. So, for example, a large high school with grades 9-12 may want to do the survey three times per year. They would strive to get one-third of the classes from each grade level for each of those three times, so that every student in the school has one opportunity to complete the survey.

3. Random Selection - weekly results

When student data are uploaded, the TTFM system randomly assigns each student to one of the viable survey weeks identified by the school. Weekly, the school receives a list of students to complete the survey online the following week. Each student completes the survey once. Trajectory reports are updated daily, and results are available after about four weeks of student inputting. Open-ended Question responses are accessible verbatim to schools as long as the minimum number of responses to maintain anonymity has been reached (15). New responses are made available to schools on the first day of each month.

This option might be used by medium-size schools (300 - 600 students). It is potentially the most labour intensive as it requires a system-generated random selection of students be organized each week to do the survey, following a schedule created by the TTFM system. However, it also gives you the most up-to-date information about your school. Given that students are selected from different classrooms throughout the school each week, schools have had to find ways to minimize bottlenecks and disruption.

The Learning Bar's school evaluation system shifts the burden of data collection and analysis from the schools to our system. However, data and information obviously does not equal improvement. It still requires someone to consider what this means for the school or district, priority areas for resources and efforts, what should we do about what we're learning, etc. So the TTFM surveys do not "do the job for you." They simply help you to be clear about priority areas for improvement within your schools and district. It is conveniently used to begin relevant conversations with students, staff and parents, and helps you monitor the impact your efforts are having to ameliorate school climate, student engagement and student wellness.

Contact Us

e-mail: info@thelearningbar.com
tel: (506) 458-9311