By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT — With a bare minimum quorum, the Board of Education last week approved one student survey and is poised to change the vendor to help administer a second.

The annual spring survey of post-high school plans by Staples High School seniors will be administered Tuesday, May 6.

Survey of post-graduation plans modified

William Plunkett, the director of school counseling, told the board this year’s survey is slightly different from those in the past, with two questions omitted and one added.

Students will no longer be asked to list the most important factors in their college search.

Plunkett said the answers tend to be the same year after year: programs, location and campus life. As such, it didn’t tell the counseling staff much.

The survey is intended to not only help the staff advise students and their families, but feeds data into the School Profile that is shared with colleges.

The second question that was dropped asked about students applying to colleges with an automatic admissions process. Since that is now built into the Common Application many students complete it was not deemed important.

Instead, Plunkett said the survey for the Class of 2025 will add a question asking students to elaborate if they indicate they weren’t happy with their post-high school plan.

In past surveys, the lion’s share of students indicated they are satisfied.

Before approving the survey on a 4-0 vote, questions were asked about why some students don’t appear to apply for local scholarships, essentially leaving money on the table. 

Plunkett said some may not have done so by the time they fill out the survey and others may have run out of steam from the college search process by the time local scholarship windows occur.

Board members voting included Vice Chair Dorie Hordon, Secretary Neil Phillips, Abby Tolan and Kevin Christie. Christie attended the meeting remotely.

New vendor selected for climate survey

The second survey deals with school climate. 

The district is required by the state to administer it every other year. Westport does so annually, with the off-year survey more focused on school culture and belonging, according to Assistant Supt. Anthony Buono.

For the past four years, post-pandemic, the school district has used a survey provided by a firm called Panorama. This year, the intention is to transition to Hanover Research, based in Arlington, Va.

Hanover is already under contract with the district, providing it research data on the use of cellphones in schools, according to Assistant Supt. Michael Rizzo. The firm is also in conversations with the district about updating its “dashboard,” an online portal on student information.

Chief Financial Officer Elio Longo, after the meeting, said in an email that Hanover’s cost to the district is $40,000 and that the climate survey would be tucked into that cost.

Panorama’s contract cost $25,550.

Buono said the shift is recommended because Panorama was unable to fully customize the survey to align with district needs, respond to questions and assist in disaggregating survey results.

Hanover, in discussions with the district since December, not only was willing to customize the document but worked to make the survey better reflect district goals, according to Buono.

“They seemed to work as fast as Westport does,” said Rizzo. He described them as a “powerhouse,” and responsive to district questions.

Hanover provided “legitimate feedback and suggestions,” Rizzo said, “acting as though they are partners. That has not been our prior experience.”

The firm had suggestions on how to streamline the survey and reword questions so that it could be understood and given to students in grades three to five as well as middle and high school students.

Hanover also suggested ways to make open-ended questions on what students like or want to improve about their school better, Buono said.

Questions on the survey to be given this year were run by principals. It is expected to take about seven minutes to answer and cover how well students like school, their teachers and peers.

By changing surveys, the district will lose a little historical perspective, but Buono said he doesn’t think it will be an enormous loss. He suggested an off-year, where the survey is shorter and not tied to a state mandate, is a good time to try the switch.

Hordon asked if the district needs to do the survey every year.

Rizzo said it helps staff measure the success of some decisions on school climate.

Asked if Hanover works with other school districts in the area, the board was told New Canaan. In 2018, Hanover completed a study on school start and end times in that town.

Souleye Kebe, a student representative to the board, asked if the climate survey could include questions about student participation in sports as it relates to social climate.

Buono said most questions are designed so that all students could answer, but Tolan said it would be interesting to see how students were asked their thoughts on extracurricular activities at their schools.

The board is expected to vote on the proposed survey switch when it meets again March 20. 

The intention is to give the survey to students before the end of the 2024-25 school year.

Freelance writer Linda Conner Lambeck, a reporter for more than four decades at the Connecticut Post and other Hearst publications, is a member of the Education Writers Association.