Background Research
The original research supporting the Characteristics of Successful Schools was conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Instruction (DPI) in the fall of 2000. The seven characteristics identified by that research are aligned with the nationally conducted effective school research and serve as the focus areas for Wisconsin schools.
Based on the identification of the seven characteristics, NCREL and DPI collaborated on the development of appropriate survey items and graphical displays of the collected data. The result of the group effort was a set of paper-based surveys that assisted schools and districts with the collection of perception data from selected stakeholders. The responses gathered in the first few schools and districts were used to complete psychometric analyses on the item scales and the actual survey items Once the questions and surveys were developed, refined, and preliminarily tested, it was necessary to make the process much faster and cost-effective than paper and pencil surveys.
A data collection/analysis engine was added to complete the tool, which could then provide the ability to collect the data online and easily compare data between the various stakeholder groups. The Characteristics of Successful Schools Survey tool not only provides an electronic perceptions data collection tool, but also analyzes and organizes results in a graphical format for comparison.
Subsequently, school and staff climate surveys created by Victoria Bernhardt were added to provide more in-depth and focused perspectives on staff and student satisfaction.
