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There were some limitations on analysis of the survey and the ability to fully generalize about students’ preferences and voice.  

The survey itself was conducted under a different academic setting in the 2021-22 school year than the 2020 Survey. Unlike in 2020, students were in-person for school, and therefore may not have been on their computers as much as they were in 2020. Because the survey is online, it may not have been as easy for them to complete it. Additionally, students have been surveyed more over the course of the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years than they have in the past. This may contribute to survey fatigue, or a lack of willingness to participate in another survey, especially an optional survey. There were also several events happening in schools across the district during this time which may have distracted students, including school closures due to threats and the spike of Omicron COVID-19 cases. All of these may have contributed to a lower survey participation rate in 2021-22. The overall participants represent about 10% of eligible students who were surveyed. 

Regarding the qualitative results, there were several limitations. There were significantly fewer qualitative responses in the 2021-22 survey. Relevant responses represent the opinions of about 1% of students eligible to take the survey. This may have been due to survey administrators providing another option for feedback, focus groups, as well as the other factors already listed. There are also some other limitations to analysis. An extensive list of themes and subthemes was created to span the complex types of responses included in the survey results to be inclusive of the complexity of responses. Generating and coding these themes was done by a small group without intercoder validation or stakeholder input relating to the validity of themes.  

Following up with students who expressed a desire to be more involved with ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵapp’s commitment to creating inclusive and equitable space for students.

Partnering with educational leaders across ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵapp to deepen our understanding of these results from an intersectional perspective. 

Utilizing the themes and suggested actions by students to inform how educational leaders in ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵapp can better serve students. 

We believe our student's voices can serve as a compass, helping us as teachers, district leaders, and parents identify specific levers to pull to improve equity in education, in our community, our nation, and our world. By asking students to reflect on their equity and inclusion experiences in our schools, the Equity Council believes that education leaders within ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵapp can use the actionable data to understand and improve our schools' racial and cultural climate and our district.  

ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵapp students in grades 6-12 will be asked to complete our ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵapp Student Equity & Inclusion Survey starting on Wednesday, December 8th and have until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, December 17th to submit their responses. This survey is optional for students, students can skip questions they do not understand or prefer not to answer, and all survey responses will be kept private. Attached is a document with an overview of how students can access and what their communication looks like. 

In response to feedback from last year we are currently doing or have completed the following:  

• K-5 Engagement: We are working on a framework to engage our students in grades K-5 because their experiences are an integral part of the overall narrative in ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵapp.  

• ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵapp Student Equity Survey Glossary (Click Here): Using a variety of resources and input from stakeholders across the district and community we developed a working glossary of key terms referenced in the survey. Our primary goal is for this to provide a shared language that is relevant to the survey context. Our secondary goal is to provide transparency and learning resources for families who might support their student in completing the survey or have their own desire to join in our effort to create a shared language.   
• Data Communication: We are planning to take a more proactive approach to our engagement and practice in sharing the data from the survey. We will be using a variety of engagement strategies to make meaning of the data and connect to district initiatives and academic supports.  

• Families are invited to review the glossary and survey with their students as they take it or before. Survey links are only being sent to students to help ensure the data's integrity and that responses are only from students.  

The survey begins on Wednesday, December 8th and closes at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, December 17. 

Districtwide survey results will be shared with the entire ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵapp community via our website in January.  

Questions in the survey have been adapted by members of the ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵapp Equity Council from the Panorama Equity and Inclusion Survey and the Iowa City Schools 2019 Survey. The ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵapp Research team was consulted in developing this survey.  

Responding to this survey is optional for ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵapp students in grades 6-12. Students do not have to answer all the questions.  

At this time grades 1-5 are not being surveyed at this time but the Equity Council in partnership with families, community and members across the district are currently in the process of developing a framework that is accessible for students at that age. 

The survey is being provided in our top eight languages. 

The ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵapp Equity Council has not fully developed a parent/guardian survey or staff survey but the council is making progress in this area with the intention of piloting these surveys during this school year.  

Definitions with examples and video learning resources of terms used in the survey may be found in our ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵapp Student Equity & Inclusion Survey Glossary. Student instructions include, "If you do not understand a question or statement or would prefer not to answer a question, you can move on without answering to the next question or statement."