A growing body of research shows that student perceptions are linked to academic outcomes. At YouthTruth, we believe that incorporating the unique perspectives of students into decision-making creates happier, healthier school systems with higher academic achievement. Emboldened by these principles and the newly passed Student Success Act, Oregon educators are amplifying students’ voices to support positive school climate and improve academic outcomes.

In this case study, four districts across the state share their experiences using anonymous school climate surveys to improve students’ experiences across a range of themes, including emotional and mental health, chronic absenteeism, college and career readiness, and culture. Their stories offer inspiration and practical guidance as educators across the country declare student feedback a priority.

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Nearly 30 districts and 150 schools in Oregon use the YouthTruth Student, Family, and Staff Surveys. Many use their anonymous surveys to fulfill SSA requirements.

Here’s how student voice can support your district’s Student Success investments:

Reduce disparities: Anonymous school climate surveys like YouthTruth allow districts to disaggregate results and see where students are having dissimilar experiences relative to their peers.

Engage families and community members: Surveying school staff members and families helps districts engage families and communities while creating strong partnerships for student success.

Monitor change over time: Year-over-year survey results allow districts to see where they are making progress.

Build data fluency: Oregon districts are asked to use SIA funding to allocate staff time to engage with high-quality data for strategic planning purposes.

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Corvallis School District (CSD), located south of Portland, serves approximately 6,500 students across 13 schools. The district uses YouthTruth surveys to support students’ well-being and measure progress against emotional and mental health goals.

“We wanted ways that we could get really clear data beyond the individual conversations system-wide,” says Superintendent Ryan Noss. “It’s really important to hear from students. Their experiences matter and getting system-wide feedback about the student experience allows us additional insights into the things that are happening in our schools that we can address. The survey is also easy to implement and gives you a ton of information.”

     Hire trained staff

The district hired multiple full-time district therapists to increase the availability of trained school staff.

     Skill development

CSD also hired “skills trainers” to help students improve their ability to cope when feeling upset, stressed, or having problems (where the district ranked near the bottom quartile in the YouthTruth survey).

    Share the message

The central office worked with counseling services to heighten the quantity and reach of messaging about the programs and services available to students at their local campus.

Resources to help educators move from data to action

Edutopia’s Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Curriculum
Check out some top-notch strategies and protocols to develop students’ SEL at www.edutopia.org/sel

The Great Body Shop
Explore the Great Body Shop curriculum (Pre-K – 6th grade) at www.thegreatbodyshop.net

Principals from Corvallis School District unpack YouthTruth data during summer professional development

Crook County School District (CCSD) uses YouthTruth school climate surveys to check-in with the experiences and social-emotional learning (SEL) of middle school students as they transition into high school. In support of their 3,000 students across eight campuses, CCSD also uses students’ feedback to address chronic absenteeism.

“Students don’t like to go where they don’t feel safe and supported, and we believe that the YouthTruth data ties directly to attendance,” says Superintendent Sara Johnson. “The work we’re doing in attendance should be reflected in the student voice through YouthTruth.”

    Lead with inquiry

The district team began by asking questions about the potential link between school culture and attendance. For example, could the high rates of bullying and harassment in the data influence whether or not students enjoy coming to school?

    Seek specific clues

Indeed, students’ open-ended comments about obstacles to learning and bullying provided qualitative nuance that complemented the quantitative findings. The student sentiments also indicated that relationships with peers and factors outside of school sometimes interfered with attendance.

     Put anti-bullying curriculum to work

The district is working to reduce bullying with targeted curriculum focused on building empathy including The Great Body Shop. They hope to address stigmas around different identities and students’ struggles outside of schools to make sure students feel supported when they come to school.

Medford School District (MSD), nestled in Southern Oregon, serves over 13,000 students and has gathered school climate data through YouthTruth surveys since 2016. The district’s data show that three quarters of seniors plan to attend a four-year college — a number MSD aims to increase. Here are the district-wide changes that MSD is considering to increase students’ perceptions of how prepared they are for the future.

    Allocate funding

Dedicate budget to add more support staff who specialize in college and career advisory counseling.

   Streamline messaging

Modify relevant course titles to include “college” and “career” in the 9th, 11th, and 12th grade catalogue to boost students’ awareness of the relevance of current course offerings to college and career readiness.

     Partner with local college

Create a dual enrollment program for a career and technical college class with Southern Oregon University with free tuition and public transportation for high school students.

    Get the word out

Communicate college and career counseling opportunities more proactively by displaying posters throughout school campuses. Posters share information about regional and national colleges as well as how to access admission support

North Clackamas School District (NCSD) uses the YouthTruth survey to learn about the experiences of groups with shared identities and demographic characteristics, make adjustments, and track progress over time. “There is no other way to get outside of ourselves and ask students on a grand scale across the system about their experiences and measure the health of our school through the student lens,” says Shelly Reggiani, executive director of equity and instructional services.

Since their first year of surveying, the district has applied their climate survey data to both their equity work and chronic absenteeism initiatives. In year two of surveying, NCSD added staff and family surveys to their practice to hear from more voices in the community.

    Look for trends

The district team looked deeper into the data to see if they could identify any other trends relating to students’ gender identities. They noticed that students who identified as female also feel less positively about relationships.

    Ask nuanced questions

The dissonance between male and female students’ feelings about academic challenge and relationships prompted NCSD to ask more detailed questions. For instance, does the fact that the math teaching team is majority male play a role? Do female students feel they have to work harder than male students in their classes? What stereotypes and preconceived notions could teachers and school staff have that might impact this?

     Implement interventions

As an intervention, a series of professional development workshops are in motion across the district to address biases that may cause school staff to treat students differently based on gender.