Caitlin Churchill, Possip’s Community Director, provides an overview of Possip’s 3rd Annual Trends Reveal, featuring the top 5 trends from the ’22-’23 school year!
Possip Releases Trends in Feedback from Surveying Nearly 1 Million People
As the 2022-2023 school year comes to an end, Possip revealed trends from this year based on our routine surveys of almost one million people about their experiences in school this year. Possip is the leading provider of feedback surveys for schools, surveying nearly 1 million people to date this school year. Here we share some of the key insights from Possip’s feedback trends that can help educational institutions improve performance.
These trends reflect responses from families, staff or students at almost 1% of US schools across 35 states. People shared in 67 different languages – 20% of total comments were in languages other than English.
Possip uniquely encourages responders to share praise as well as feedback. In fact, in our data comments including praise outweigh those focused on feedback. This is especially true when it comes to the topic of teachers and staff where we see over 2 times as many comments that are praise.
That said, we know that understanding feedback trends can strengthen student achievement, family and staff engagement, and overall school operations and success.
Keep reading to learn the Top 5 Trends this year, in order.
Trend #1: Communication
For the third year running, Communication is the top feedback trend. Communication feedback is about the frequency, responsiveness, content, or method of communication from the school and/or teachers. This includes regular updates on student progress, timely responses to inquiries, and opportunities for parents to provide feedback.
Trend #2: Student discipline and bullying
Students, staff and parents all shared feedback about student discipline. Additionally, this theme persisted as a top trend in each region of the US. This includes feedback about the school’s student discipline and consequence systems, reports of bullying or student fighting, requests for more prevention initiatives and consequences for bullying actions. There is some nuance here which we will cover in more detail in our white paper.
Trend #3: School Safety/Campus Security
This category of safety and security has been in the data for years, but it has become a top trend this year. Feedback that was provided covered building security and monitoring – and general concerns that students are safe or comments that mention any type of safety concerns/issues in the surrounding area or on the campus.
Trend #4: Feedback about teachers
Feedback about teachers is also new to the top 5 this year. This feedback is related to a specific teacher or teacher’s classroom actions or their interactions with families. We know the critical role of teacher-student relationships in student success. Possip’s research and data show that students who have positive relationships with their teachers tend to perform better academically and have higher levels of engagement in the classroom. This underscores the importance of fostering a positive school culture that emphasizes supportive relationships between teachers and students. Given teacher workload and staffing shortages, the strain on teachers is greater than ever. Our white paper will share more information on the complexities, opportunities, and solutions in giving teachers the supports they need so they can best serve students.
Trend #5: Carline and transportation
While this can seem like a small, almost laughable, category it is an important one. It is the first and last thing most parents interact with in a school day. This category includes feedback on the efficiency, safety, and overall operation of the schools’ carline process–including arrival drop-off and dismissal pick-up procedures or comments about the school’s bus system reliability, access, and safety.
The themes of communication, carlines and student discipline have been consistent since last year. Safety and teacher feedback new to the top 5 this year in 2022-23.
Check out these solutions from Possip reporters for each trend:
#2 – Student Discipline and Bullying Solutions
#3 – School Safety/Campus Security Solutions
#4 – Tips for Feedback about Teachers
#5 – Car line and Transportation Solutions
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Possip Membership – Join today!
Want to learn more about the way these trends show up for different demographics, regions of the US, and school levels? Become a Possip Member to get access to this one-of-a-kind data! You will also get access to view the trends reveal video and hear Possip reporters and educators reflect on the trends!
Complete our interest form here to get started!
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Thank you so much for joining Possip’s annual end of year review of feedback trends from Pulse Checks to a million people across the country! For ideas on sharing out praise to your school community, click here.
