Survey re options for next school year

Complete report

Beginning on April 16 and running for eight days, the Collaborative for Student Success conducted a voluntary online survey of 5,500+ education professionals from across the country. Every state in the country is represented with half of the states providing at least 50 responses. A vast majority of participants were teachers (4,500; 81%). However, nearly 700 administrators also took the survey (12%). Approximately 250 policymakers and advocates participated; their opinions tended to agree, so we have combined their responses for this analysis.

The poll asked the opinion of teachers, administrators, policymakers, and education advocates to analyze four return-to-the-classroom options, suggest other alternatives, and express their reasoning about the best and worst options. The four basic options included extending the next school year, beginning the next school year where instruction stopped this school year, beginning the next school year as in any other year, and offering the opportunity to repeat the present grade.

 More about the participants

• 85% of respondents were White/Caucasian, 7% Hispanic/Latino, 6% Black/African American, 2% Asian Americans, and 4% other. Questionnaire responses did not significantly differ based on the race of the respondent.
• Approximately half of participants are parents with a child in a public school grades k-12 (48%), while 4% are parents with children in private or public charter schools. The remaining 47% are not parents with children in school.
• Respondents were asked to identify the ways in which COVID-19 has impacted their household. Answers included: 38% caring for children, 28% lost/reduced employment, 10% care for an individual who is not a child, 4% illness, 1% insecure housing.

Topline Findings:

Basic Options Compared

• Extend the next school year: Education advocates and policymakers want to extend the next school year by a margin of 51% support to 39% oppose, but teachers (15-77) and administrators (28-62) both oppose the idea.
• Begin next school year with April ’20 concepts: Participants were split on the idea of picking up next year where classroom instruction was interrupted this year. Administrators preferred this approach (61-26) the most of the four options. Similarly, advocates/policymakers support it by a 54-34 margin and teachers agree 48-39.
• Start the 2020-2021 school year with instruction scheduled as in any other year: Teachers favor to resume the regularly scheduled instruction next year by a wide 65-23 margin. (However, in their open-ended responses, many of those same teachers call for a more targeted solution to helping the students most in need, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.) Both administrators and advocates/policymakers agreed by 54-36 and 47-41 margins, respectively. •
 Advocates/policymakers believed that parents/students should have the opportunity to repeat this year’s grades by a 42-35 margin, but administrators (17-66) and teachers (31-48) dislike the idea.
• Finally, a large majority of participants agreed that a high-quality assessment should be administered at the beginning of next year to help understand the amount of learning loss incurred: administrators 71-21, advocates/policymakers 70-23, and teachers 59-28. This is noteworthy in a time of increased anti-testing sentiment. The recognition that data is a powerful ally to helping right the ship is one that should be promoted. 4 Analysis and Recommendations