Bullying, being engaged in learning score worst on Riverview student survey

Stratton said a total of 312 students completed the survey in the spring, which was an increase from the 294 students who participated the previous year. The junior high had 151 students complete the survey and the high school had 161.

“Seventh grade had the most students complete the survey, with 85,” Stratton said, “and 12th grade had the fewest with 11 students.”

In his presentation of the results, Stratton said he was using the “overall score” for the district but junior high scores were consistently higher than high school scores.

In the “School Climate” category, only one of the statements had above a 4.0 score and all six decreased compared to last year. “The highest was, ‘I know how I am supposed to behave at school’ with an average of 4.38,” Stratton said. “The lowest was ‘Bullying is not a problem at my school’ with a score of 2.96.”

Moving to “Relationships,” Stratton said that “the three highest statements all decreased compared to last year while the three lowest statements all increased compared to last year. The highest statement with a score of 3.97 was ‘My parents are well-informed about my academic progress.’ The lowest statement was ‘I am provided with useful information about careers, colleges and other opportunities’ with an average of 3.48.”

Switching to the “Voice and Choice” category, Stratton said one statement was above 4.0, but all six statements decreased. ‘I understand that getting an education is important,’ was the high with a 4.29. ‘My teachers readily listen to and accept student ideas and suggestions about classwork’ was the low with a 3.31.

Moving on to “Feedback and Goal Setting,” Stratton said all six statements decreased from last year and none were above 4.0. “The highest was ‘I understand the academic expectations that school has for me’ at 3.70,” he said. “The lowest was ‘I set academic goals and track my progress toward those goals at 3.39.”

Under the topic “Engaged Learning,” five of the statements decreased. ‘The work I do at school challenges me to think,’ was the highest, according to Stratton, coming in at 3.60. ’Students in my class are engaged in learning’ was the lowest at 2.83.

Referencing the “Flexible Teaching” topic, the top four statements decreased while the bottom two statements increased.

The highest score was “My teachers appear to align their lessons to match the learning styles of most students,’ with a 3.18. The lowest score was ‘My teachers align their lessons to match my personal learning style’ with a 2.84.

Stratton said in the parents survey results he went over last month, they were wanting more college information, and he said what could really help is that an Arkansas State University-Beebe career coach will be on campus at Riverview except when they have to be at meetings or other things.

“For basically half the salary [with grants] we get a full-time counselor,” he said. Stratton said the district’s commitment would be 50 percent of the salary and benefits, which should come to around $28,000 for a year. “For this year, they think by the time they get somebody hired, get the approval rom the state for the grant, it will be about $21,000.”

The board approved Stratton’s recommendation unanimously.