By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT — An annual survey that helps the school district illustrate the strength of its graduating class will have a couple of new questions this spring.

In addition to asking students where they will attend college and their intended majors, the online survey will ask if there is something more the district could have done to prepare them and if they remembered to thank teachers who wrote letters of recommendation.

“I loved [that] question,” Board of Education Chairwoman Lee Goldstein said in reviewing the survey document this week.

The board is expected to officially approve the Post-High School Plan survey at its next meeting.

Parents will get a letter next month notifying them about the survey, which will be administered to the Staples High School Class of 2023 on May 2.

Assistant Supt. of Schools Michael Rizzo said the intent is to get as many members of the class as possible to participate to get a comprehensive picture.

Results are used by school counselors to help future students and their families, and feed into the School Profile and Common Application forms used by higher education institutions.

The survey also helps the district identify trends, inform school counseling programs and services, and advise students on how realistic their chances for admission are to any particular institution.

Survey questions include:

• If students will attend a two- or four-year college, apprentice program, some other career education school, military, employment or gap year.
• Describe non-college plans, if applicable.
• What factors contributed to the college search and selection process, if applicable.
• What their intended major is.
• If standardized test scores were submitted as part of the application.
• If they applied for or received need-based financial aid.
• If they applied for any community or local scholarships.
• If they plan to play sports or applied to a visual or performing arts program through portfolio or audition.
• Did they apply to any colleges or universities through the Connecticut Automatic Admissions Program.
• If they have thanked teachers who wrote them a recommendation.
• How satisfied are they with post-high school plans.
• What is one piece of advice they would share with Staples students regarding the post-high school planning process.
• Besides meeting with school counselors, which presentations, panels, workshops or classroom lessons did they find helpful.
• Describe aspects of the planning process they felt fell short.
• If they are willing to be contacted in the future as a resource for others about the post high-school experience.

 A comprehensive snapshot

William Plunkett, director of school counseling at Staples, said the survey could have been longer, but the staff was mindful that getting second semester seniors to take on an extra task could be challenging.

“It is critical to have a comprehensive and accurate picture of their post-high school plans and college admission outcomes,” Plunkett said.

Survey questions about what students found helpful and areas they felt could be improved were open ended to get actionable feedback, Plunkett added.

Data from the survey form the basis of the student profile that gets sent to colleges with every transcript that goes out. The profile is also available online.

School board member Dorie Hordon called it a great survey.

“There’s lots of good questions that I think would be helpful,” she said.

She wondered, however, what efforts the district makes to get student feedback a year after they graduate.

Plunkett said such feedback is gathered anecdotally.

Hordon also wondered if the district explores why there are some colleges that Staples students cannot seem to get into on a consistent basis. She did not specify which ones.

Does the district reach out to those schools to ask why, Hordon asked.

Plunkett said trends and fluctuations are tracked.

“I remember when I first started here,” Plunkett said, Staples graduates seemed unable to gain admission to Georgetown. That is no longer the case.

Plunkett said although there are some anomalies, Staples’ track record is as good or better than national acceptance rates at most schools.

Last year, the Class of 2022 reported that 93 percent were headed to a four-year college, having applied to 440 different schools and landing at 162 different institutions.

Still, the same 25 colleges tend to get the most applications and acceptances year after year.

As the pandemic fades, representatives from some 150 colleges are now visiting Staples and school counselors are back on the road traveling to colleges across the country, according to Plunkett.

“It’s a great opportunity to reach out to some of the reps, have individual conversations, foster relationships and help them understand Staples,” Plunkett said.

Board member Kevin Christie wondered, given a recent student climate survey that illustrated students are stressed about the college process, if there could be a survey question in future years asking about anything the district could do to ease their minds a bit.

The Class of 2022 survey found 91 percent of the class reported feeling satisfied with their post-high school plans, even though sophomore year was cut short by the pandemic and junior year devoid of many traditional student activities. College visits for that class were largely conducted remotely.

The senior year experience has largely returned to normal for the Class of 2023.

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.