Resources

Student perception data leads to a more nuanced understanding of school and teacher performance and – as a leading indicator of student outcomes – enables mid-course adjustments before it’s too late. With students’ perceptions linked to academic performance and teacher quality, recent evidence suggests that student feedback should be a critical component of school improvement initiatives.

We draw our empirical inspiration from a growing body of research linking student perceptions to academic performance and teacher effectiveness.

The 15-year research synthesis from the American Educational Research Association (AERA), “Research Synthesis of the Associations Between Socioeconomic Background, Inequality, School Climate, and Academic Achievement,” suggests that by promoting a positive climate, schools can allow greater equality in educational opportunities, decrease socioeconomic inequalities, and enable more social mobility for students.

Stanford University’s John W. Gardner Center finds that students’ motivational beliefs are closely related to their achievement. Classroom practices that encourage effort and understanding and create a caring learning environment will improve student motivation.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Measures of Effective Teaching project found that “student survey results are predictive of student achievement.” The MET study also “found that student surveys produce more consistent results than classroom observations or achievement gain measures.”