Analyze Reports

My Voice™ reports provide a context for exploring how students, staff, and parents perceive the teaching and learning at school. By exploring and discussing results presented in the reports, schools and districts gain valuable insights into the relationship between aspirations and school culture. Those insights can lead to promising action plans aimed at fostering teaching and learning environments in which all students are inspired, and able, to reach their goals. 

Below are some suggestions for understanding and using the data in My Voice reports.

Three Important Concepts

There are three important concepts to keep in mind when analyzing your survey results:

1. The results reflect respondents’ perceptions of reality.

Perception is Different than Reality

The My Voice Survey is an opinion survey. As such, the results reflect the respondents’ perceptions of reality, not necessarily reality. That is not to dismiss the results (as some are inclined to do) as merely students’ perceptions or opinions: “That’s just what the students think, we know what the truth is.”
 
On the contrary, your students’ perceptions shape what they think and how they act in your school and so provide an accurate picture of your school’s climate and culture. The fact of the matter is that reality is complex; to truly understand it, we need to hear various points of view on the same realities.
 
When students’ perceptions are put in dialogue with the perceptions of staff and parents, insights emerge and can form a basis for sound decision-making and action.
2. The data are merely numbers.

Data are Merely Numbers

Numbers contain no insights, judgments of fact or value, decisions, or action plans. Mistakes some make are:
  • To move too quickly from data to judgment of fact: “We correctly understand what students/staff/parents are saying.”
  • To jump from data to judgment of value: “This is bad.”
  • To leap from data to action planning: “We have to do something.”
Rather, interpreting results is a process of moving from data to insights (what do these numbers mean?) to judgments of fact (have we understood the data correctly?) then value (is this important to us?) and from there to action (what should we do?).
 
This process begins with inquiry and dialogue among colleagues, students, and parents. In these conversations, staff can question the data and form hypotheses that might explain the results. For example, if only 35% of your students report feeling proud of their school, what might be the source of that diminished pride? A lack of success in sports? An aging physical plant? Failing to meet AYP?  If 93% of staff report that your school is a dynamic and creative learning environment, what contributes to this? Collaboration among teachers? A respectful atmosphere that encourages risk-taking?
3. The most helpful comparisons are internal.

Compare Yourself to Yourself

Many schools want to interpret their results in comparison to a national or state aggregate. While this can be interesting, it is not always helpful. The 8 Conditions are not norms, they are ideals. We want every member of the school to feel like he or she belongs. Every student should feel a sense of accomplishment. We should not be satisfied that a few percent less of our students are bored in school than the national average. As ideals, the “normative” level for each Condition is 100%. Likewise, we want every staff member to know the school’s mission statement and every parent to feel welcome in our school.


The most illuminating and helpful comparisons are internal. What do boys in your school say as compared to girls? If there is a discrepancy, what accounts for it? Is the gap acceptable? What is happening from grade level to grade level? You might also compare your survey results to your Mission Statement or core beliefs. Does your school profess the centrality of community? How does that compare with what your staff say about Belonging? Does your Mission Statement espouse the importance of actively engaging students in the learning process? If so, is this reflected in the tables having to do with Fun & Excitement, Curiosity & Creativity, and Spirit of Adventure? Do your school’s core beliefs highlight the value of teaching students to be productive citizens? Do your results for Confidence to Take Action bear out this emphasis?

Conclusion

The process described above is critical to improving aspirations at your school. You can make a difference when you take the time to listen, take what you have heard seriously, and take on the challenge of improving the teaching and learning environment for you and your students.

Summary

  1. Data in and of itself is merely data.
  2. This data represents students’ perceptions of reality.
  3. These are baseline numbers – a starting place.
  4. The survey measures the 8 Conditions, which are ideals, not norms.