Learning Community: Tell Them From Me school survey

School Survey: TTFM School Evaluation System

Tell Them From Me (TTFM) is The Learning Bar's dynamic web-based school survey system for school assessment and school evaluation. TTFM provides a way for students, teachers and parents to share their voice with those who can make a difference.

The TTFM school evaluation system is designed to help front-line educators and administrators improve outcomes for students by providing low cost, reliable and continuous measures of the factors pertaining to student engagement and the aspects of classroom and school climate that are closely related to engagement and achievement.

Tell Them From Me provides a means for the continuous monitoring of student outcomes and schooling processes, based on the best evidence from numerous studies on school effectiveness (Scheerens, 1992; Willms, 1992) and whole school approaches to school reform (Hill & Crevola, 1999). It is designed for schools and school districts that are engaged in the process of school reform that Fullan (2003) calls "transformative change". This requires a concerted effort by school administrators, teachers, parents and students to change the context of teaching and learning.

Tell Them From Me is designed to meet the ongoing needs of teachers, principals, and district and Department administrators. A unique feature of TTFM is that students (Grades 6-12) from each school complete the survey at set intervals over the course of the school year, allowing results to be frequently updated. This creates a system for continuous monitoring, enabling school and district staff to assess whether school reforms and interventions are having their intended effect.

The school survey is completely anonymous, which allows students to give open and honest feedback on ideas related to student engagement, student wellness and school climate.

TTFM is completely web-based, allowing for an efficient process throughout and timely preparation of reports. Interactive student survey charts display a school's or district's results for each of the measures derived from the student data. It also provides "one-click" reports, which display the school and district student survey results by measure. Data from the survey can by viewed in correlation with national and provincial comparison lines, as well as replica school lines.

Together with an optional Teacher Survey and Parent Survey, the system provides practical, easy-to-use reports that indicate key areas as starting points for discussion and action in response to the feedback received.