Moving into the New Year: 2022 Reflections

Shani Dowell, Possip CEO and Founder, shares important forms of reflection as the year comes to an end.

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When I first started Possip, two big questions stood before me like boulders in a path.

1. 1. Will schools even want regular feedback?
   2. Will parents ever share?

In my mind, hearing from families would help schools and districts be stronger. But the question of whether schools wanted feedback – or whether parents would share – became potential obstacles.

As we close out our 6th year of Possip, I can answer both questions definitively.

Yes.

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Instead of boulders in the path, schools wanting feedback – and parents, caregivers, students and staff wanting to share – are accelerants. That doesn’t mean every school wants feedback – or every parent will share. But the power and impact we see from those who do share has become like rocket fuel to what is possible in schools when we ask, listen, and act on feedback. 

2022 Reflections to Consider in the New Year

Seeing the power and impact provides additional reflection points:

People asking for feedback is an act of strength. 

Asking for feedback is leaders saying, “I can handle hearing hard things.”  “I can be stronger from learning.”

People asking for feedback is an act of vulnerability.

When leaders ask for feedback, they say, “I am shaking free the idea I’m perfect.” “I am asking you about things I may not have the power, skill or capacity to change.”

People sharing feedback is an act of hope.

That things can be better or different. That someone is listening. That the individual can be an agent of change.

People sharing feedback is an act of trust.

They trust that the people, organization or system they are sharing with cares what they think – and can do something about their experience.

The power of knowing your impact.

So often things happen and while you may understand the order of events, you may not know the impact of the events. I remember in Possip’s first Pulse Check in February of 2017, a parent shared the positive impact a teacher made on her anxiety-ridden child by giving  her child a journal and encouraging her child to write.  Another parent wrote about the positive impact a parent made when their child was absent and the teacher called to check in on the child. I remember a Pulse Check where a parent shared the impact of a disciplinary decision involving her child.

As the principal read this comment, the principal said “I knew all of the events surrounding this decision but  I didn’t realize the impact it had.”  So often things happen and move so quickly in a school day – that it is hard to know the impact – positive, negative, or neutral. 

The limits of even good intentions.

Closely connected to the power of impact are the limits of even the best of intentions. We often miss the opportunity to learn more about the success – or failure – of our intentions.  In large systems like districts and schools, we make decisions with the best of intentions. No one wakes up and asks how they can make a big decision that negatively impacts tens of thousands of people.

And yet we know that the realities from any policy perspective is that sometimes our decisions have negative and unintended consequences. Unfortunately, without easy ways to hear about the impact of positive intentions, a lot of schools, districts and organizations have to suffer from more painful ways of hearing from their community about the negative impacts of a decision.

The truth of conflict.

I was recently interviewing someone and they said “conflict is a part of life – you just have to go through it.” This resonated with me as a truth. So often what stands in the way of engaging in difficult conversations is the fear of conflict. Conflict really is a part of life. Finding productive ways to engage in, and manage through conflict are important skills.

The  other side of hard.

Gosh. We’ve learned hard in new ways the past 3 years. I was at a fundraising event last year, and the speaker shared a well known quote from the head coach of the Phoenix Suns, “everything you want is on the other side of hard.” In our work we get to walk alongside our partners in the hard. We see parents sharing hard feedback – about kids struggling with mental health, academic needs, feelings of isolation, bullying. We see schools having to deal with the hard – staffing shortages, COVID and sickness protocols, changing policy environments, attendance and enrollment challenges. But we also see them walking forward – towards a future on the other side of hard.

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As we head into the new year, may we keep walking forward in the hope, trust, vulnerability, strength, knowledge of impact, comfort with conflict, and push through the hard that is going to make our schools, districts, organizations, and people even stronger.

I’ll see you on the other side.

To learn more about the importance of feedback, join a Possip live demo!

The post Moving into the New Year: 2022 Reflections appeared first on Possip | Engagement Platform | School Feedback Survey.

Actions for Keeping Safe Schools

Possip’s CEO Shani Dowell sat down with mental health counselor Malené Dixon and Catherine Cecere of Joffe Emergency Services to discuss school safety. After the conversation, Possip had requests from attendees to recap the tangible use cases and takeaways. 

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Keep reading to cover actions to take for keeping schools safe. 

First, let’s pause there on the statement “keeping schools safe.” Notice, it’s a verb. As a society, we can’t guarantee we will always have safe places, but we can work together at keeping safe places for everyone. We can do this by creating: 

1. 1. Systems of Safety

1. 1. Ecosystems of Safety

1. 1. Safe Practices 

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On creating Systems of Safety: 

Shani Dowell shares starting points for a safe school climate, highlighting in this 1-minute clip a helpful mindset for establishing and adapting systems that can be adapted to unpredictable situations. 1.) Have templates to guide you, but respond appropriately and according to real-time situations. 2.) Ask questions, get answers, and keep listening by using Possip surveys and other methods. 

From Shani: We need to be talking about competing ideas. Keep understanding that the answers are not always easy answers, but there are strong systems to put in place. Keep learning and hearing from our students and staff so we know what’s important to them.” 

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On creating Ecosystems of Safety 

Catherine Cecere shared a visual for this ecosystem below and discusses these “circles of safety.” She points out, “We at Joffe talk with schools about: how do we keep people safe and how do we make them feel safe? As you can imagine these have so much overlap, but they are not always the same thing.” Critical actions: 1.) Keep people physically safe. 2.) Keep people feeling safe. She discusses administration’s role and other critical actions centered around communication practices in the full conversation 

 

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On creating Safe Practices: 

Cat made excellent points summarized here and in the 1-minute clip below. 1.) Learn trauma-informed practices. 2.) Make practicing safety intentional and meaningful. 

From Cat: We need to talk about meaningful and trauma-informed practices. Keep talking to kids about what could happen and how to keep our bodies safe. Keep talking to parents about how we practice intentionality of decreasing trauma.

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In closing, we loved this key takeaway from mental health counselor Malené Dixon. Safety impacts attendance. How safe and secure a student feels at school is a determining factor of whether they show up at school. Malené pointed out that when schools have threats to campus, they likely have the lowest attendance of the year the next day – stating that was true for her former campus KIPP Sunnyside in Houston, Texas. Hear more on how safety impacts attendance in this one-minute clip with Malené and join us for a special conversation on increasing attendance this January. 

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Resources and connecting to the panel: 

• • Visit youtube to hear the entire 50-minute conversation. 

• • Joffe Emergency Services welcomes you to sign up for their free resources, including a monthly e-newsletter, invitations to webinars, templates, and turnkey slides for schools to use. 

• • To connect with Cat Cecere of Joffe Emergency Services, schedule a call. 

• • To connect with Malené Dixon for consultation and consulting services, visit https://www.loftylife.net. 

For federal resources on Campus Safety, click here!

The post Actions for Keeping Safe Schools appeared first on Possip | Engagement Platform | School Feedback Survey.

Tips on Maximizing Attendance in Your Schools

Caitlin Churchill, Possip’s Community Director, provides tips to maximize attendance in your schools!

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“When the going gets tough, the tough get going,” is a motto sometimes used to celebrate kids with perfect attendance. 

Modern day expectations and laws reinforce the message that every kid should be in school every day possible. However, historically that hasn’t always been the case. History tells the tale of kids staying home to offset families lacking resources, zoning and discriminatory regulations. This has required people to attend schools far from their homes, and unsafe and time-consuming transportation to school, not to mention unwelcome environments for many. 

It’s not surprising that people need support and motivation to get to school. It’s not surprising that when things get tough (insert: unsafe, unkind, inconvenient), people might not show up or lean into difficult situations. 

There are real tangible factors influencing attendance – physical and mental health, transportation, safety and communication – and Possip’s new Attendance Checks help districts and schools uncover which factors have become barriers to individual families. As you may or may not expect, families are still identifying COVID as the top barrier to missing school.

It begs the question: how do districts and schools …

1) more fully understand and address barriers?

2) shift mindsets so that families, kids and teachers agree it is important to show up for school? 

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This January 24th, Possip will gather with educators to talk about improving attendance. We know this is a situation where multiple solutions are needed.

Let’s consider a broad framework for encouraging attendance. 

A: Understand barriers to attendance

B: Remove tangible barriers to attendance

C: Communicate about shared values related to attending school 

D: Align with families on expectations and requirements 

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Here are five areas of barriers to consider with families, staff and students routinely throughout the year. 

1. There may be logistical barriers related to a caregiver’s ability to get a student to school such as the ability to afford transportation or help a student get to a bus. Parents may have competing commitments with work or caretaking and are unable to focus on logistics for a school-aged child. 

2. There may be communication barriers that influence whether a parent is fully informed about attendance expectations or able to communicate needing assistance. This could be due to cultural or language differences. It’s possible that families have also received conflicting information or even heard conflicting mindsets toward attendance from their teachers, children or fellow parents. 

3. There may be health barriers that are either physical or mental impacting the student or family members responsible for getting the student to school. There may also be concerns about illnesses spreading in school, or that a school environment is impacting a student’s emotional well-being. 

4. There may be safety barriers. It was illuminating in the November conversation between Possip in educators on school safety when former school counselor Malené Dixon, Senior Counselor & Student Leadership Advisor at KIPP Sunnyside, said, “If students don’t feel safe, they aren’t going to school.” Similarly, if parents don’t feel their students are safe, they aren’t going to send them to school. Addressing school safety – including bullying and disciplinary concerns – will impact how families and staff feel about being present.

5. Last, there may be different mindsets about the importance and value of attending school. These mindsets may be determined by the families’ level of engagement with teachers and administrators, cultural points of view, or even how students and families feel about their academic progress and the value of time spent in class. In these and other ways, mindsets or belief could become a barrier to attendance. 

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Then, once you have a practice of uncovering these ever-shifting barriers for each individual family, you can address needs one-by-one in real time.

Here are some for removing barriers.

(Peer educators will talk through their favorite approaches to addressing attendance barriers on January 24th and you are invited – RSVP now to join the conversation!)

1. Addressing transportation barriers: Possip reporter Virginia Williams gives helpful insights on tackling car line at your school. 

2. Addressing communication barriers: Possip Reporter Savannah Staley shares communication plans and templates (see #7). 

3. Addressing health barriers: The pandemic taught us a lot about establishing and communicating safe health practices in schools. 

4. Addressing safety barriers: Possip CEO & Founder Shani Dowell provides a framework for safe schools and ways to communicate about safety. 

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Finally, it’s important to emphasize the final two aspects of the framework – communicating the value of attending school and aligning with families, staff and students on expectations and requirements. Aligning, like giving and receiving feedback, is a two-way street. Signing a handbook or statement of intent is not aligning. Alignment is active, personal, and affirming.

How does that show up? 

1. Active – First, understand that barriers to attendance may be temporary and changing, or permanent. Use multiple methods and frequent, routine opportunities to talk about how attendance is going. Is it easy? Is it hard? Are these barriers? Use surveys like Possip Attendance Checks, implementation of structured conversations at parent-teacher conferences and in staff meetings, newsletters, teacher letters, and more. 

2. Personal – Second, make attendance a personal matter. While school culture and shared values will greatly impact both attendance and future enrollment – and we have tips on that from Monchiere’ Holmes-Jones, the CEO and Founder of MOJO Marketing + PR – the solutions for addressing barriers need to be considered case-by-case. 

3. Affirming – Last, affirm that families, staff, administration and students are aligned and mindsets are mutually aligned. This can be accomplished through surveys like Possip Attendance Checks and receiving feedback that expectations and requirements are indeed understood, shared and valued. 

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We look forward to seeing you on January 24th when educators talk more about identifying and addressing attendance barriers and improving attendance! 

Register now to join the conversation!

The post Tips on Maximizing Attendance in Your Schools appeared first on Possip | Engagement Platform | School Feedback Survey.

Top 10 Family Trends in November

Caitlin Churchill, Possip’s Community Director provides an overview of the top 10 family trends from this past November! 

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November top 10 family trends are in! Similar to patterns from last year, happiness tends to dip as schools approach the end of the calendar year. This has historically happened during the late Fall months!

We see a variance ranging from an average of 82% happiness in September to 80% happiness in October and now 77% happiness this November. Over 32,000 families shared praise and feedback with Possip in November, covering about 275 topics of importance. 

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Below are the top 10 family trends in November.

#1 Teacher Feedback:

Teacher Feedback remains the top trend, similar to last month. In general families will comment on what they perceive as instances of disrespectful or harmful interactions between teachers and students and classmates. Hot comments are concentrated around situations that impact their students’ emotional well-being and self-esteem. Medium and cool comments represent families asking for more structured or intentional classroom time and grading. One consideration is how the availability of planning time for teachers – or lack of it – can impact family feedback. 

#2 Car Line Logistics:

Carline feedback persists! Most of the comments were about safety during carline, expediting the car line process, and the help of crosswalk guards. Car line continues to greatly impact the family experience! Possip reporter Virginia Williams provides tips for increasing efficiency, improving safety, and creating a better experience for everyone involved in school drop-off and pick-up. Possip also has some guidance on creating a car line number system. 

#3 Teacher Communication: 

The adage “more is less” does not apply here – families are appreciating weekly communications and anything that helps them feel they can answer the question: “How is my child doing?” This includes a mix of personal communications, parent-teacher meetings, and newsletters. Parents most appreciate consistent attempts to communicate about their student’s experience, as well as reasonable response times when they reach out for help. One parent this week shared gratitude to their school for listening to their request for more teacher communication – the parent had noticed the difference!

#4 Curriculum Feedback:

Families have asked for more rigorous curriculum, or resources to assist their students. In some cases, families are concerned about content they feel is not related to the subject at hand – particularly around social commentary. It is interesting to consider this feedback in relation to #3 on Teacher Communication.  One consideration – might helping parents plug into their students’ lessons in advance and student’s progress in real-time help schools get in front of concerns around curriculum?  Possip Reporter and Tennessee AP teacher, Savannah Staley, has provided us with solutions for your curriculum! Also, Possip reporter and former school principal Amy Kate Wallace shared a resource you can use for your families – or yourself – on understanding curriculum.

#5 General School Communication Content: 

Families are likely to comment when there is an incident and they are left asking the question “What happened?” Like many best practices in organizations, people praise communication that is sent in advance and transparent. Cincinnati Public Schools Principal Taylor Porter shares his favorite tips on informing, listening to, and responding to parents. 

#6 General School Communication Frequency: 

Similar to comments above, we hear families asking for more communication, communication with teachers, and more diplomacy in communication with administration. While frequency is tough and varies according to preferences, there seems to be a tendency to want less frequent automated communication and more frequent personalized communication.  Possip pulse checks can be a great way to learn more about what your families want to hear about.

#7 Academic Support:

Many families are asking for more support from teachers and increased tutoring opportunities. at home. Families engage when their student is falling behind or struggling, and provide feedback advocating for students with special needs like autism or trouble focusing. Similar to other trends represented, families appreciate individualized approaches or at least individualized communication. 

#8 Communication on Grades: 

Families tend to comment on visibility of grades. We see comments on how frequently grades are input, and available to view; families tend to desire weekly updates and the ability to see red flags, provide feedback, or open dialogue with a teacher. Here are great tips on communicating academic progress. 

#9 Student Discipline: 

While there are always comments on disciplinary practices and whether teachers should be more or less strict, the overall trend regarding student discipline is on peer behavior – the way students are treating each other and their teachers. Here are some tips for addressing bullying and restoring student relationships from Possip Reporter and Tennessee AP teacher, Savannah Staley. We also have a ton of resources on our blog to help you build out your anti-bullying programs.

#10 Cafeteria Feedback:

Families are requesting higher quality food for students. In addition, families also want longer lunch periods and higher standards for cleanliness. We share these top family trends in the hopes that they help you have the tools, information, and ideas to support your school.

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Want to learn more about these top 10 family trends? Reach out to Jennifer Kehl at jennifer@possip.com. 

Want to know what’s top of the mind for your families? Join our live demo!

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Back to School Tips for Spring Semester

Savannah, a current Possip reporter and former educator, shares tips for teachers returning back to school for the Spring semester! 

Five Tips for Back to School This New Year

 

The days of sleeping in, eating sugary treats, and binge-watching Netflix are almost behind us. Soon, students will be filling the school hallways and classrooms as back-to-school resumes. Going back to school after an elongated break can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be!

 

It’s also a wonderful opportunity to reset with your students by revisiting classroom norms, setting aside time for reflection, and helping students with intentional goal setting. Additionally, taking the time to reflect rather than jumping straight into the curriculum will help establish trust with your students. From my own experience, the human-centered, holistic approach yields higher buy-in and motivation from students because they feel invested in.

Here are five tips and ideas for coming back to school this spring semester:

 

1️⃣ New Years Reflections

 

Rather than making New Year’s Resolutions, consider writing New Year’s Reflections with your students. Here is an example I used with my 11th and 12th graders, but this could easily be adapted for younger students as well. My advice is not to assign this as homework, even though it’s tempting to! Instead, take the time out of daily instruction to work on this. This will show students that this really is a priority for you.

 

Consider completing this worksheet yourself and using it as an exemplar. Encourage, but do not require, students to share out in a safe and community-centered environment where students feel comfortable and heard. Choose one of the prompts, and ask students to record their answers on a notecard or sticky note. Hang these on a bulletin board, or somewhere where students can see them as a means of personal accountability. Spend time revisiting these reflections throughout the remainder of the school year.

 

2️⃣ Ease Into January

 

While it’s tempting to jump right into curriculum, it’s important to provide space for students, and yourself, to transition back into the school year. If possible, avoid heavy homework loads and spend time revisiting classroom norms and expectations. Transparently share your own goals and hopes with your students and ask them if these goals feel achievable and appropriate. If you are noticing student fatigue throughout the day, provide opportunities for brain breaks and socialization / community building. In the moment, it might feel like you’re “wasting time,” but you’re not! This intentional resetting will greatly pay-off and set the tone for the new year.

 

Here is an article to provide you steps on how to ease into January!

 

3️⃣ Set Goals and Intentions

 

Help students create academic goals and intentions for themselves. These goals should be measurable and achievable. Encourage students to share their goals with a peer, family member, or teacher to help hold them accountable. Consider making a class goal, or set of goals, as well to promote community building and collaboration.

 

4️⃣ Provide Socialization Time

After spending a significant time away from school, it’s natural for students to want to connect. However, the nature of COVID has also changed this a bit, and has caused students to become more isolated. Teachers are seeing that students are having a difficult time collaborating academically with other students, or even just socializing.

 

Create structured time for students to connect with one another. Perhaps it’s a restorative circle, or a ten minute weekly class check-in. For a more creative approach, write a handful of age-appropriate and inclusive questions on a ball and ask students to pass the ball around the room. Whatever question the student lands on when they catch it is the question they are encouraged to answer. While providing students time to connect is important, just make sure it’s structured and purposeful so that it will in turn be meaningful.

 

5️⃣ Revisit Communication Norms

 

As a former teacher, I remember how difficult it was to keep up with my own family and student communication goals. Year after year I would tell myself that I would communicate with ten families weekly and hold regular student writing conferences. However, as the school year progressed and I became more overwhelmed and exhausted, this dream rarely lasted for more than a couple of weeks, until I approached it more strategically.

 

Consider creating a student communication tracker individually or with your grade level team. Ask students to write down their family’s emails, phone numbers, the best time to reach them, the best way to reach them, and home language. Once you have this information, mindfully communicate with families. You might send out a monthly newsletter or family email, then track which families you’ve connected with. Block time out on your calendar so you prioritize this!  Revisit and rework your communication goal as needed throughout the semester.

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Welcome Back!

 

Possip’s staff really does hope you’ve enjoyed your winter break and are looking forward to the new semester! Hopefully, these tips spark some excitement as you think about returning back to school for spring semester with your students. Overall, choose mindful practices that will allow your students and yourself an opportunity to slow down and ease into the new year with intention.

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Campus Safety Case Studies

Join a panel of parents and school administrators on Thursday, December 8 as we talk through case studies and solutions to one of the top trending feedback topics.

The post Campus Safety Case Studies appeared first on Possip | Engagement Platform | School Feedback Survey.

Possip Live Demo

Feedback matters. Join us to learn more about how Possip collects, analyzes, and reports back feedback within your school communities!

The post Possip Live Demo appeared first on Possip | Engagement Platform | School Feedback Survey.

The Path to Safer Schools: Top Questions to Ask

While answers aren’t always easy, Possip CEO & Founder Shani Dowell shares important questions for you to ask and consider on a path to safer schools.

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When you don’t have answers – sometimes the best you can offer is questions.  School and nationwide safety and violence begs for answers – but we need to start with some questions.

As a human, it’s hard to take the frequency, randomness, and prevalence of violence in our country and world.  Similar to how we are learning to live with COVID, it appears we’re getting accustomed to living with threats of violence.  We operate without the armor or delusion of safety.  Even places that were once considered safe havens for community – colleges, schools, churches, clubs – aren’t off limits.

And as much attention as gun violence and killings get, the truth is that far smaller incidents happen routinely.  These are the small incidents that rip apart at the seams of our safety and community.  This happens when adults fight at sporting events, when an adult yells at another adult in a school, and even when a kid throws a desk in a classroom.  As we empathize with all the challenges and difficulties that lead kids and adults alike to behave in these ways, the truth is they also can create feelings of stress and vulnerability. 

We don’t talk much about school safety because it’s hard to discuss.  The truth is the big events that can be universally agreed upon as wrong cover up the realities of far more complex situations that happen in our schools and communities every day.

For schools and districts and parents to truly deal with school safety, we have to get honest.  And the honest truth is, none of us have answers.  Our ideals battle the realities of human behavior battle policies.  We have to at least start asking ourselves the questions.  Part of why we don’t have answers is because even asking the complex questions – of ourselves, of our society, of our schools, of our parents – is hard.

We’re going to be digging into this topic of School Safety at an event in December. Before we dig into questions let’s consider a few broad frameworks to consider.  

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Forms of Safety in Your School and Community

There are 3 forms of safety to consider:

• Physical Safety
• Emotional Safety
• Mental Safety

 

Starting Questions For Creating a Safe School Climate

As your school and community starts considering these different forms of safety, you’ll also want to consider and ask yourself, your leadership team, and your community:

• What is our philosophy on creating a safe school climate?
• What systems can we put in place to support our philosophy?
• What are our priorities and levers in this system?
• What tradeoffs are we prepared or willing to make?

Additional Questions to Ask 

We know some of these questions may be ones you can’t answer now.  Our goal is to be able to at least consider the questions – even if the answers don’t come easily.

Questions for Schools and Systems Leaders:

• Do kids feel safe at school?  How do you know?  
• How can kids articulate if they feel safe or not?
• What are class sizes? How do class sizes affect feelings of physical, emotional, or mental safety?
• What happens to kids who demonstrate violence?  Who name call? Who use vulgar language?
• How are kids supported when they show mental health challenges?
• How does a school appropriately address threats to safety? 
• What parts of school campuses are physically safe?  What parts of the building may be unsafe?
• How can you prepare and plan for safety breaches, while not creating fear in students?
• How do you communicate to your community – students, staff, parents, neighbors – about plans regarding safety?
• What is considered “on campus” versus “off campus threats? How do interventions change?
• What is an appropriate role, if any, for law enforcement to play when connected to school safety or student safety?
• How can we care for those who may be struggling and therefore a threat to safety?  How can we do this while also caring for those who may be threatened by a student?

 

Questions for Parents and Caregivers:

• Does your child feel safe at school? Mentally? Emotionally? Physically?
• Has your child been name called? Hit?
• What could your child do that might make you say – my child is not safe in this environment?
• What could your child do that might make you say – my child is not safe for others?
• How can you share safety concerns with your child’s school?
• As a parent, what are your boundaries and lanes for what is okay for your child to experience at school?  
• Are you comfortable with your child participating in safety drills? What type?
• What type of information and communication do you want from your child’s school?

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When it comes to school safety – and society safety – sometimes the best we can offer is questions.  For other resources related to school safety check out:

• https://www.schoolsafety.gov/ 
• NAESP: School Safety and Tools
• Possip: Keeping Schools Safe: Safety Communication Tips

Need more tips on school safety? Check out our Safety Communication Tips blog!

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KIPP Leaders on How Possip Data is Equipping Leaders in Their Work

Caitlin Churchill, Possip’s Community director, sat down with KIPP Leaders from across the country to learn how they use feedback from families and staff to equip exceptional leadership in their regions. 

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KIPP networks across the country are using Possip to gather family and staff feedback. We sat down with two leaders to learn how routine feedback is to strengthen leadership. 

 

 

Tiffany Russ, Chief of Equity, Leadership and Student Experience at KIPP Nashville, and Allison Willis Holley, Senior Managing Director of Schools at KIPP NYC, agreed that the power of routine feedback enables their leaders by:  

1. Regularly hearing about the day-to-day experiences of their people.

2. Using happiness as a metric of retention. 

3. Providing affirming feedback to their staff. 

4. Routine feedback surfaces reflective questions for your team.

5. Sharing feedback across multiple teams. 

 

Scroll down to hear these comments in their own words! 

 

1. Routine feedback allows leaders to regularly hear about day-to-day experiences of their people.

“I had been a principal for a long time and I had worked at KIPP NYC for 16 years and it was the first time that I felt like I was regularly hearing about the day-to-day experience, that wasn’t related to a large problem that we were trying to solve that had taken months to solve, or a quick one off. It felt like I was hearing about the student experience from the lens of our families in a way that felt really relevant and real.” –Allison Willis Holley, Senior Managing Director of Schools at KIPP NYC Public Charter Schools 

 

2. Routine feedback allows leaders to see happiness as an important metric for retaining staff. 

“We found [Possip data] to be pretty correlative – we saw a strong correlation between those who said yes and those we retain year-over-year… It gave principals and leaders a chance to get away from reviewing only teacher outcomes and what they were producing, but also know what they actually feel. Because a few principals have been blind-sighted by some really awesome teachers saying they can’t do it anymore. With the regional dashboard we can trend and ask, what’s popping up here and what can we do regionally to respond to this and allow principals some resources.” –Tiffany Russ, Chief of Equity, Leadership and Student Experience at KIPP Nashville

 

3. Routine feedback gives leaders affirming feedback to share with their staff. 

“It is amazing to have a vehicle to be able to share affirming feedback. We’re all wired to hear the word feedback and jump to the negative side of our brain. It’s amazing to have a vehicle to share all the great things, and all of the gratitude and specific shoutouts and the really positive moments back with leaders. And for those leaders to be able to use that to share gratitude with the staff and buoy them through the rollercoaster that is a school year is really fantastic.” – Allison Willis Holley, Senior Managing Director of Schools at KIPP NYC Public Charter Schools

 

4. Routine feedback surfaces reflective questions for your team. 

“[Possip] brings up some really healthy reflective questions. It’s bringing up questions around trust, it’s bringing up questions around responsiveness. Questions like, how do we view partnership with our families? The KIPP Foundation started this school culture and climate survey. … and one of the questions is around partnership with families and shared power. I think [Possip] is a tool that’s very in line with that desire to become a network of schools that really does co-create and partner with families. I think our schools that are most adept at the follow-up have families that are feeling really affirmed. – Allison Willis Holley, Senior Managing Director of Schools at KIPP NYC Public Charter Schools 

 

5. Routine feedback enables access to data across across multiple teams. 

“There are so many ways that my team uses this data. Our Managing Director of Leadership Development is able to take this data and think about what we need to put in principal training to ensure they understand the kind of feedback you get as a principal and what to do about it. We use the data in leading, hiring and retaining staff. … Our student culture and student support leaders are able to get more qualitative data. … They are able to get that data that would have normally been invisible, like to the level of one parent. Because Possip allows us to be solutions oriented.. It also allows for more regional follow-up and allows us to ask good questions to our leaders on different campuses.” – Tiffany Russ, Chief of Equity, Leadership and Student Experience at KIPP Nashville

 

To see more past and upcoming Possip events click here!

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Top 10 October Staff Trends

Amanda Richards, Possip’s Reporting Team Lead, analyzed data from our Pulse Checks! The results were able to provide us with the top 10 staff trends from this past October in 2022! 

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The Possip team heard from about 4,500 staff members in Possip Pulse Checks this past month! Of those participants, 57% of staff members were happy with their schools. Here are some top-of-mind trends for teachers and school staff. 

First, we wanted to share a few larger themes that we noticed:

• Workload continues to be a growing concern- Teachers are consistently sharing that they are running out of time to accomplish all the necessary tasks during the day and are feeling overwhelmed by the number of to-dos on their lists. This has been a recurring trend in staff pulse checks but has risen to the top of the charts this month. 

• Student discipline needs and student fighting are increasing- Not only is this our #2 trend for staff this month, but it’s also in the top 10 for family Pulse Checks. We’re hearing an increase in violent behavior and fights happening on campus. October can be a time when the back-to-school “honeymoon” period is over and boundaries are starting to be pushed, especially with regard to student behavior. 
  

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Here are the top 10 staff trends that teachers are talking about.

 

#1 Teacher Workloads:

Teachers are feeling like there are too many checklist items, expectations, program responsibilities, meetings, initiatives, and classroom-based tasks. They want more clarity on what they should prioritize and feel that instructional tasks and pedagogical requirements should take first priority. Teachers are also sharing that many new initiatives on campuses this year, such as phonics curriculum, intervention periods, SEL curriculum, guided reading lessons, and added teacher meetings, are taking up significant time and pulling them in many different directions. 

 

#2 Student Discipline and Behavior:

Teachers are focused on finding solutions for concerning student behavior and fights on campus. The main points of feedback they shared in regard to discipline are more accountability. In addition, they want more monitoring in unstructured spaces like hallways. They also want more behavioral support for teachers when they need it. We are hearing that teachers feel student behaviors are escalating and there is a need for more school-wide discipline protocols. Some of the causes that teachers are attributing to this behavior spike include increased class sizes, lack of accountability or consistency with consequences on repeated students with behavioral concerns, lack of restorative practices, and a lack of monitoring in hallways and unstructured areas. 

 

#3 Administration Feedback:

The most commonly requested feedback was around administration having more transparency, more consistency, and more support for teachers.

 

#4 Curriculum Feedback:

Teachers want more freedom in their lesson planning and their classroom instruction. Staff members are also sharing feedback about topics like pacing, customization of content, resource choices, and wanting autonomy in those decisions. 

 

#5 Planning Time:

Teachers are sharing that meetings are falling into their planning periods and taking up preparation time multiple days a week. We also heard that there have been additional classes or preps added to teachers’ plates without having any extra planning time to complete those tasks. Many staff members are worried about work-life balance. They are using significant time outside of school and on weekends to complete their work without any additional compensation. 

 

#6 Staff Shortages and Teacher Vacancies:

Staff members are sharing that vacancies are impacting class sizes and disrupting the school’s ability to meet student’s needs effectively. Teachers are asking for more paraprofessionals and support staff, especially if teacher spots cannot be filled. There was also a trend that teachers feel that if they had more time and had more of a work-life balance in their roles, it may be a solution to ending teacher shortages and vacancies.

 

#7 Professional Development Sessions and Teacher Training:

Staff members shared feedback on current training content and requested specific content for future training. Some requested topics include trauma-informed practices, behavior management training, SPED training, and content-specific training. This would help teachers feel more confident with their curriculum. There was a trend of teachers sharing requests for new teacher training and better onboarding procedures, mentorship programs, and training resources for them to succeed.

 

#8 Teacher Duties & Requirements:

Teachers and staff members are sharing that their workloads and duties and unsustainable compared to the past. We heard that many new administrative duties, meeting requirements, data collection responsibilities, and adding academic responsibilities like intervention periods have been added to teachers’ plates. Teachers are asking that duties are shared equally across campus team members and that time should be given back to be able to prepare and complete these duties.

 

#9 Communication Content:

This is a new trend on our list this month. Teachers are sharing feedback on the content of the communication they receive from leadership on campus. They are asking for more proactive communication, especially when it comes to logistical emails or information on events. In addition they want clear and correct communication of changes or updates to important dates or deadlines. We also heard teachers ask that subs and support staff receive the same information as teachers so everyone is on the same page. Teachers also want to hear more about trends heard through their staff pulse check and what action steps may be taken because of their feedback and ideas.   

 

#10 IEP/504 Support:

Teachers want student needs and support to come first but are showing concerns about their ability to balance their tasks and make sure all IEP and 504 plan requirements are sufficiently being met. Teachers are asking for more communication and support from SPED departments, more training on best practices, and more collaboration with and observation from SPED departments or district leaders to better understand and meet student needs.

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We share these top 10 staff trends in the hopes that they help you have the tools, information, and ideas to support your students, families, staff, and school.  We love being a partner – so just reach out to us at caitlin@possip.com if you want to chat more!

Want to know more about staff needs? Join a Possip live demo!

The post Top 10 October Staff Trends appeared first on Possip | Engagement Platform | School Feedback Survey.

Possip Live Demo

See how Possip is working with schools and districts to help hear from their entire, and diverse, communities! Register today!

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Stories from KIPP Leaders: Impactful Use of Family and Staff Feedback

Join us for a conversation with you peers! On Wednesday, November 9 leaders from KIPP networks across the country will discuss how they are using feedback from Possip Pulse Checks.

The post Stories from KIPP Leaders: Impactful Use of Family and Staff Feedback appeared first on Possip | Engagement Platform | School Feedback Survey.

Top 10 October Family Trends

Amanda Richards, Possip’s Reporting Team Lead, analyzed data from our Pulse Checks! The results were able to provide us with the top 10 family feedback trends from this past October! 

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October is a notoriously difficult month for schools. The “new school year” honeymoon phase is over, a holiday break seems far away in the future, and the deadlines for both school staff members and students can feel like they are piling up. It’s no surprise that October was when the Possip-launching dinner table conversation about the tough time in schools happened.

As we head into November, we want to share some of the key highlights from October we pulled out in our family Pulse Checks. This data represents comments from about 54,000 people who shared through Possip over the past month. On average, 80% of families said they were happy with their child’s school this past month. This is slightly lower than the 82% family happiness in September.

Before we dig into the 10 top trends this month, what are some key takeaways we noticed:

• Teacher feedback is increasing – Families are giving feedback about staff members on campus more frequently through Possip. We’re seeing specific feedback trends about professionalism, having positive attitudes with students, and requesting more feedback and support for students. 

• Student safety is top of mind – Families have an increased awareness of fights and violence happening between students on campus. This was also a trend we saw last year through Possip as schools reopened. Families generally want more transparency from leadership about these incidents on campus and would like to see more personnel monitoring students. Possip is hosting a Campus Safety event in December to help school administrators come up with solutions.

• Information is key – Families are asking for more communication and information from the school on a consistent, proactive, and streamlined basis. Improved communication about curriculum information and school events were two frequently discussed trends.

 

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Below are the top 10 October family & parent trends. 

 

#1 Teacher Feedback:

Families are asking for more positive interactions with students and families, including having more patience and increased professionalism. We also surfaced a trend about teachers sharing more helpful feedback on student work and progress with students and families. More transparency in grading practices, an increased understanding of individual student areas of growth, and listening directly to students to hear what they need were all highlighted through Possip results this month. 

#2 Teacher Communication:

More photos of classroom happenings, more individualized insight on how students are progressing behaviorally and academically, and consistent communication regarding deadlines and responding to emails or calls. We heard a few ideas to improve teacher communication. This includes more opportunities to connect with teachers at the beginning of the year to learn about how they can communicate with teachers and build a relationship from the start. Many parents and families didn’t know how to contact teachers. They felt unsure about what was going on in their student’s classrooms.  

#3 Curriculum Feedback:

Families asked for more interactive and engaging curriculum, more projects and real-world applications to the content, different book selections in reading classes, and less test preparation. A few other more specific topics we heard multiple families discussing was the pacing of the curriculum, more support with foreign language classes and math, avoiding any topics of politics with elections coming up, and feedback on the rigor and difficulty of the curriculum. Families are increasingly becoming more engaged with the content being taught in class and are wanting information consistently on what students are learning.

#4 Academic Support:

Many families are asking for more support from teachers, increased tutoring opportunities, and additional assistance solidifying learning or preparing for exams. Families also noted that the expectations and workload seemed very high and they felt students were struggling and not able to keep up. Overall, families are asking for more support for their students, and more tips for how they can support their student academically at home.

#5 General School Communication Frequency:

We heard a desire to have emails and calls returned consistently. Also, they want more direct communication to necessary stakeholders and not mass communications, and correct event dates that are not changed frequently. Families also asked for communication to be outside of social media for those that don’t use the mode of communication. 

#6 Carline Logistics:

Most of the comments were about safety during carline and expediting the carline process. Families added a lot of helpful ideas through Possip to help brainstorm solutions. Some ideas included more officers or staff to direct traffic, reiterating to families the carline rules, not allowing parking in specific locations near the carline, and school-specific ways to speed up the drop-off/pick-up process. 

#7 School Safety:

Families shared tangible ideas to make the campus safer. This includes more student monitoring in specific places and adding additional safety training. In addition, they want schools to transparent communication with families, so they are aware of safety measures or concerns. We also noticed this tied to our #9 trend this week regarding student fighting on campus. Families are worried about violence escalating to more severe situations inside the school and in the surrounding neighborhoods.

#8 Extracurricular Activities:

Families want schools to provide more activities, sports, clubs, and opportunities for their students to be social with friends in a fun way. Families are advocating for schools to add specific clubs or sports. Other families that have students involved in clubs or sports are asking for more facilities, more organization and communication of schedules. They also want more information about how their students can participate. 

#9 Student Fighting:

Families are hearing about increased fights at school and want more transparency about these situations. We heard families advocating for more consequences for fighting, and more information on what is being done to prevent fighting. Also, there were requests for more counselors or resource officers to support in decreasing fights.  Families are sharing worries about these fighting behaviors escalating into more school violence and dangerous situations on campus. 

#10 Cafeteria Feedback:

Families are requesting higher quality food for students. They also want more variety in the menu and correct lunch menus posted online and in newsletters. Additionally, families want to be able to bring food to drop off to students during the day or visit to have lunch with their students. In terms of the logistics of lunch, families are sharing feedback about removing assigned lunch seats for students and allowing them to choose their own seats. In addition, families also want longer lunch periods for their students to have ample time to finish their food. 

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We share these top 10 October family trends in the hopes that they help you have the tools, information, and ideas to support your students, families, staff, and school.  We love being a partner – so just reach out to us at caitlin@possip.com if you want to chat more!

Want to learn more about family and parent needs? Join our live demo!

The post Top 10 October Family Trends appeared first on Possip | Engagement Platform | School Feedback Survey.