After just one week, more than 9,500 Kentucky educators have taken part in the TELL (Teaching, Empowering, Leading and Learning) Survey of school working conditions. That represents about 18 percent of the school-based certified educators eligible to participate.
Two districts, Leslie County and Harlan Independent, have already achieved a 100 percent response rate; and 250 schools have already met or exceeded the 50 percent minimum response rate to receive their school’s results.
The TELL Kentucky Survey is designed to find out about a number of school topics — including the adequacy of facilities and resources; time; empowerment; school leadership; community support; student conduct; professional development; mentoring and induction services; and student learning – from those on the front line of teaching and learning. The results of the survey will be used by educators, stakeholders and policymakers to make evidence-based decisions on policies and practices that will improve student achievement and increase teacher retention. The half-hour, Web-based survey is voluntary, anonymous and confidential.
To encourage greater participation in the TELL Kentucky Survey, the Hope Street Group, Kentucky Association of School Administrators, Kentucky Education Association, Kentucky School Boards Association, and The Fund for Transforming Education in Kentucky contributed prize money for weekly drawings throughout the period in which the survey is open.
Every school that reaches a 50 percent response rate is entered into a drawing for a $1,000 cash award for the school’s use. Schools that reach a 100 percent response rate are entered into a drawing for a $1,000 cash award to go to an individual educator at the school, who many use the prize how he or she wishes. No public monies are used for prize drawings.
School and district completion rates are posted on the TELL Kentucky website.
This is the third time the TELL Survey has been administered in Kentucky. In 2013, about 87 percent of the eligible educators took the online survey.
The 2015 survey is open through March 31 to all school-based, Kentucky certified educators employed in the state’s 173 school districts.
From Kentucky Department of Education