5 Essentials Survey open to parents

BY DANI TIETZ
dani@sjodaily.com

The Illinois State Board of Education’s (ISBE) 5 Essentials Survey is now available for parents to take in order to provide feedback on school climate and learning conditions.

The questions from the Parent Survey went live on Oct. 24 and will remain available until Feb. 14, 2020.

Students and teachers will be asked to take a 25-minute survey from Dec. 10 through Feb. 14, 2020.

Administered by a third party, the UChicago Impact at the University of Chicago, the 5 Essentials Survey was implemented by ISBE more than eight years ago as a tool to gain confidential feedback about the climate and culture of a school or a school district from parents, students and teachers.

The survey, which ISBE now provides an opportunity for students and teachers to take annually, asks questions about students’ experiences, attitudes, activities in school, instruction, professional development, the school as a workplace and parents’ overall relationship with the school.

Prior to 2018, the districts were required to provide the survey biannually.

Twenty years of research at the University of Chicago in more than 400 schools has shown that schools that were strong on at least three of the 5Essentials were 10 times more likely to make substantial gains in improving student reading and math than schools that were weak on three or more of the Essentials.

Those differences remained true even after controlling for student and school characteristics, including poverty, race, gender, and neighborhood characteristics. Strength on components within the Essentials also correlated with increased teacher retention, student attendance, college enrollment, and high school graduation.

Parents, teachers and students are not required to complete the survey that collects data on the climate and culture of a school district, but, in order for the survey to be counted, schools must achieve a 50-percent response rate from students and a 50-percent response rate from instructional staff to qualify for a report, respectively.

The data will be categorized into five sections: school leadership, collaborative teachers, involved families, supportive environment and ambitious instruction. Prior to being released to the public and on the Illinois Report Card, administrators will have a chance to preview the data in early summer.

The 5 Essentials Parent Survey will not be included in the public data, but school administrators will have a chance to see the report.  Each district needs a 20-percent response rate from parents to qualify.