A deeper look at equity audit shows room for improvement

Island public schools have work to do to clarify and equally apply disciplinary policies, address concerns over bullying and student drug use, and teachers’ concerns about their well-being, according to community feedback from a recently published equity audit.

While results posted so far show generally positive feedback from students, families and staff across a wide range of topics, survey respondents rated some parts of the schooling experience more favorably than others.

The audit, embarked upon by the schools in August 2023 in partnership with the national educational nonprofit Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium, grew from nearly a decade of work by the district to evaluate its schools, including after the national and global outrage over George Floyd’s murder in 2020.

The audit’s goal is to review school policies, practices, and social climate for fairness toward students and community members of all backgrounds.

So far, district-level data has been released, though principals are expected to present school-specific audit data to school committees late this month and early November.

The audit findings were first presented publicly at an all-Island school committee meeting last week.

A major source of data for the audit is the annual Department of Education School Climate Survey (EDSCLS), taken by parents and staff. The survey’s several dozen questions ranged from asking whether the emotional effects of COVID were still a problem (parents were split on this), to whether schools responded quickly to messages (roughly one in ten parents were dissatisfied), and whether schools were clean (instructional staff generally thought so).

The results show many important areas for improvement, such as parents’ and instructors’ concerns about how schools apply and communicate policies, especially regarding student discipline.

Across all parents, around one-fourth replied that their children’s schools do not clearly communicate policies and procedures, selecting “Strongly Negative” or “Negative” on the survey.

Around the same proportion thought school rules were not applied equally for all students, and that discipline was not fair at their child’s school.

Instructional staff — a term referring to of teachers, media specialists and educational support professionals — answered the same questions and appeared to support these concerns. On average, instructors replied less than favorably to whether school rules were applied equally to all students, as well as to whether discipline is fair and whether their school effectively handles student discipline and behavior problems.

Safety at school was a focus of many of the survey’s questions. A large majority of parents did feel their children were safe at school, at a share of 89 percent of responses. However, questions about racial conflict, bullying and student drug use saw larger shares of negative feedback.

Around a quarter of parents replied that racial or ethnic conflict is a problem at their child’s school. A little under one-third of responses from people of color felt this way, compared to around one-fourth of Brazilian respondents and around one-fifth of white respondents.

And across all responses, though a lower share of fifteen percent stated that physical fighting between students is a problem, 29 percent replied that bullying during school or school activities is a problem. Twenty-four percent replied that cyberbullying is an issue. Instructors were split on whether bullying in general was a problem.

Student use of technology has been a recent hot topic in the high school, as at the start of the school year the high school banned all students’ personal electronic devices. Administration cited hopes for a more focused student body and positive environment.

Prompts concerning drug use also show a significant share of concerned families. Drug use in school is a problem according to about one-fifth of caregivers.

Around one-fourth felt that electronic cigarette use is a problem, while around one-fifth considered alcohol use a problem. 

On average, instructors appeared not to share those concerns, responding favorably to the same prompts.

Large shares of parents gave positive feedback regarding communication from schools, as they felt comfortable reaching out to schools and felt staff was available and considerate. There were notable exceptions, such as more than one-fifth of parents stating schools do not effectively communicate policies and procedures. Instructors were also split on whether they were adequately informed of policies and procedures.

And 38 percent of caregivers replied that schools do not notify them when their child does something positive in class.

Caregivers also saw room for improvement regarding social and emotional support services. Around one-fifth disagreed or strongly disagreed that schools have high-quality services for students with social or emotional needs, and that schools have enough programs to help students develop such skills. Around one-fourth felt their schools did not help them figure out what social and emotional skills their children needed to develop.

Around one-fifth of parents felt that their schools lacked quality programs for their children’s talents, gifts or special needs.

Caregiver surveys can also be filtered by respondent’s language (English or Portuguese). Respondents in Portuguese as well as Brazilian respondents had significantly more positive feedback than the overall results regarding disciplinary application and policies, communication from schools, and student support services.

People of color had more positive feedback on average than the overall results did regarding student emotional and social support services, though they felt less comfortable talking to schools about their children’s behavior.

Respondents of all races and languages responded similarly to the overall responses regarding racial and ethnic conflict, as well as bullying and drug use.

Aside from families’ and instructors’ ratings of the student experience, teacher results show some weak spots in terms of their own well-being. Instructors generally responded that they had concern for their or their family’s well-being, and they were concerned about feeling burnt out. They also identified a problem, on average, with students verbally abusing instructors. Instructors generally replied that they did feel safe at school, and felt a sense of belonging. Non-instructional staff did not generally share in instructors’ negative feedback, replying favorably to the same prompts.

Results so far do not include a significant source of student feedback — the Views of Climate and Learning (VOCAL) survey that students take along with the state test every year. District staff has received this data and is currently working to incorporate it into the audit results.

However, a Story Map available on the audit’s website highlights quotes from focus groups with three high schoolers and one middle schooler, conducted in June.

Focus group feedback is generally positive, and all quotes included in the Story Map were complimentary of the school’s variety of educational programs for students learning English, and for students with special needs. “There’s definitely good opportunities for different individuals,” said one student.

But quotes from high schoolers show frustration with how administration handles their feedback.

One student said the school did not follow up after a feedback survey. “There was a little checkbox at the bottom that said, ‘Would you like us to contact you and you could speak more on this maybe in person?’ I checked yes,” the student said. “And, not only did they not ever do that, but they also put the schedule into effect with a very shaky majority. Even one of my teachers was complaining about it.”

“I feel like our opinions are asked and then ignored,” another said. “I know a lot of kids feel like their opinions were not heard within the schedule.”

The same student criticized administrations’ outreach before this year’s ban on personal devices. “Overall, what is talked about in the student community … is that they have discussions with us, but the decision is already concrete.”

One high schooler pointed to a language barrier in some classes.

“Instead of just asking [questions] in English, you could just pull up a translator or something and try to have it in Portuguese too,” one high schooler recommended. “I feel like they just get left out at some points where they can’t really answer the questions because they’re not really asked the question — again, the language barrier.”

Participation rates for families varied widely between schools, with nearly one-half of West Tisbury caregivers filling out the survey compared to around one-fourth for Edgartown and roughly one-third for the Tisbury, high school, Oak Bluffs and Chilmark schools.