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What is KAN-TeLL?
Why should I take this online survey?
I'm busy. What do I have to do to take the survey?
What areas does the survey address?
Is the KAN-TeLL survey anonymous?
What if I have questions or lose my access code to the survey?
Why are there two surveys?
Who created this survey?
How can local associations and school districts benefit from this survey?
What are the long-term plans to utilize survey data?
Who else has taken this survey?
What is KAN-TeLL?
The Kansas Teaching, Learning & Leadership Survey is a confidential, online-survey that will ask about teaching and learning conditions within your building. It is a collaborative effort between the Kansas State Department of Education, the State Board of Education, United School Administrators of Kansas and Kansas NEA. The results can and will be used for school improvement planning and to identify needed resources and professional development. The data will be used to advocate for resources to help students learn and to support educators working in Kansas public schools.
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Why should I take this online survey?
Research demonstrates that school working conditions - overall conditions, time, decision-making, leadership, professional development and facilities and resources - are critical to increasing student learning and retaining teachers. This survey will provide you, your school and your district with information about the status of teaching, learning and leadership conditions in your school. Your opinion matters. This survey will help put your experiences and perceptions at the center of school, district and state efforts to better recruit and retain quality teachers. Take the survey and let your voice be heard!
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I’m busy. What do I have to do to take the survey?
Participants may take the survey from any computer with Internet access between the dates of January 14 and February 15. All survey participants will receive a code to access and complete the survey in a letter from Kansas Education Commissioner Dr. Alexa Posny. The survey takes approximately 15 to 20 minutes to complete and is completely confidential.
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What areas does the survey address?
Participants may take the survey from any computer with Internet access between the dates of January 14 and February 15. All survey participants will receive a code to access and complete the survey in a letter from Kansas Education Commissioner Dr. Alexa Posny. The survey takes approximately 15 to 20 minutes to complete and is completely confidential.
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Is the KAN-TeLL survey anonymous?
YES! Only researchers at the New Teacher Center will have access to these surveys. No school reports will include information that could identify an individual teacher and no one in the district or state will be able to view individual survey results with demographic information. The code you have been given ensures that educators only fill out the survey once and help us identify the school in which you work. It has NOT been assigned to you as an educator; we will NOT know who you are. If you are concerned about anonymity, feel free to trade your code number with a colleague in your building. Do not trade code numbers with other building staff or your data will get mixed up with their results.
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What if I have questions or lose my access code to the survey?
There will be a help desk available to answer questions and provide any technical assistance necessary. Please call toll-free 1-866-575-8010 between 8 am and 5 pm after January 14 or email helpdesk@kantell.org.
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Why are there two surveys?
Leadership is important to school improvement. For the first time, building principals will be surveyed about their working conditions. The leadership survey is also anonymous. Principal reports will not be published at the school or district level, only as an aggregate of the state report.
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Who created this survey?
The Kansas Teaching, Learning & Leadership Survey was created by the New Teacher Center, an independent, non-profit organization out of California, dedicated to ensuring that all students have access to high quality teaching. All members of the education community had input into the survey. The Kansas State Department of Education, State Board of Education, United School Administrators of Kansas and Kansas NEA are collaborating to implement and administer the survey.
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How can local associations and school districts benefit from this survey?
The survey data will prove enormously valuable, as it has in other states, in collaboration efforts and in discussions about school improvement, student achievement and overall working conditions.
Buildings where at least 40% of staff complete the survey will be able to view their results and compare their building conditions to other schools and districts across Kansas. Plans call for local and regional meetings to review and discuss the survey results.
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What are the long-term plans to utilize survey data?
A comprehensive report on the survey data, showing the correlations between working conditions, student achievement and school improvement efforts will be compiled by the New Teacher Center. This data is intended to further discussions at the building and district level about how to address school improvement efforts.
This survey will help participating schools and districts gather data on an issue that is essential to improving teaching and learning. This data will be made available for you and your district to review, and then made publicly available on the Kansas TeLL Web site. The data is available to your district and can be used to for data-driven school improvement planning, faculty conversations and consideration of district and state policies and programs.
The Kansas TeLL partners will develop resources, tools and training to help use the survey data in facilitating discussions locally and regionally. There are already materials available to help communities and schools better understand and respond to the survey data.
At the state level, the State Board of Education and the Department of Education will use the survey results to drive policies that support schools and the primary task of educating students. Kansas’ policy-makers must address the school conditions that are important to those in the field.
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Who else has taken this survey?
Since 2004, more than 250,000 school-based educators have responded to Teacher Working Conditions Surveys and its partners in seven states (North Carolina, South Carolina, Kansas, Arizona, Ohio, Mississippi, and Nevada). The 2007-2008 school year includes new survey initiatives in Alabama, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine and West Virginia. These surveys, conducted under the leadership Eric Hirsch, now at New Teacher Center, while working for the Center for Teaching Quality, have measured such teaching and learning conditions as time, professional development, leadership, empowerment, and facilities and resources – all of which have an impact on student learning conditions and teacher retention.
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