Surveying the Field

Where has the month of May gone? It started out as a whirlwind of activity with summarizing a survey we sent out to collect the opinions on the assessment process. We then used that information as a basis for commentary at the Learning Summit held by the State Education Department. As the month progressed, we continued to reach out to members with a field survey asking for your opinions on our current services, your needs, and your expectations from us as an association. Below is a brief update on each of the subjects to keep you in the loop.

Feedback from Survey on Assessments 
At the conclusion of the April 2015 NYS Testing Program, NYS PTA distributed a brief survey to approximately 27,000 members. The survey was not a scientific sampling of membership but was intended as informal background to assist us in preparing comments offered to NYS Board of Regents members at a Learning Summit held on May 7, 2015. As of May 13, 2015, 3,051 responses had been received. The results are presented as an attachment in three ways:

1. Overall results
2. A cross tabulation that compares demographic information in question #1 with responses to other questions
3. A cross tabulation that compares test participation reported in question #3 with opinions on the NYS testing program reported in question #4

Click here for a pdf of the results. 

Learning Summit on Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) 

On May 7, NYS PTA had the opportunity to coordinate the viewpoints from multiple parent groups throughout the state at the New York State Education Department Learning Summit on APPR. For those of you that did not have the opportunity to view this on the simulcast, you can access information about the event at www.nysed.gov/learning-summit, which includes the agenda, bios and submitted materials. 

We had quite a bit of Twitter activity about our panel, and some  press coverage from the Albany Times Union at www.timesunion.com/news/article/Albany-Learning-Summit-on-teacher-evaluations-6250195.php, You can see the tweets in a Storify format along with links to the testimony by clicking here.

Coordinating the many diverse parent groups with each having their opportunity to share their own opinions and suggestions proved to be an enriching experience. We look forward to continuing to converse with these groups into the future.

Your Voice Counts - Survey to the Grassroots 

Over the past several months, NYS PTA has been working on gathering information from a variety of interested individuals. Several focus group sessions have been held with different groups of individuals. Most recently, we initiated a survey that went out to all of the email contacts in our database and was also posted to our Facebook page over this past weekend. 

This survey did not go to our Governance Team as we are looking for feedback from our grassroots. The survey did close on May 23. We plan to share those results and more importantly plan our actions based on the results. Thank you to everyone who took the time to participate.

-Bonnie

Bonnie M. Russell
NYS PTA® President
Communicate to Advocate!
everychild.onevoice.®
president@nyspta.org