PreK-12 Educational Evaluation
Susan Saka, MEd (she/her/hers)
Principal Investigator
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, United States
Location: White River Ballroom E
Abstract Information: School personnel acknowledge the value of data that provides insights about what students are doing and thinking related to risky behaviors. This particular survey (Youth Risk Behavior Survey) covers health-related behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death and disability among youth and adults, including
• Behaviors that contribute to unintentional injuries and violence
• Sexual behaviors related to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases
• Alcohol and other drug use
• Tobacco use
• Unhealthy dietary behaviors
• Inadequate physical activity
• Other health-related issues
as well as protective factors.
Brainstorm ways the results could be reported to provide insight and not scare parents in addition to ways to share results with other audiences (e.g., teachers, administrators, community groups, legislators, and the general public).
We’re experiencing more opt-out of survey participation in 2021 and 2023 by parents than in prior years. Anecdotal explanations include parents just sign anything without reading (don’t realize they are opting their child out of the survey) but also parents are objecting to time taken away from instruction, don’t what their child exposed to some of these topics, and even mistakenly associate the survey with an initiative that they do not support (e.g., Covid-19 vaccination). What effective ways could the results be shared to encourage parents to allow participation?
Relevance Statement: There are so many ways to present results of surveys. Gone are the days when long reports full of boring tables is the norm. Sometimes these types of reports have a use, but with all the data visualization advances there are so many ways to make results more understandable and useable.
This session would be geared towards decreasing the number of parents who opt their child out of taking a survey. How could results be presented to parents to encourage them to allow their child to provide insight of what they are doing and thinking? (This particular survey is completely anonymous.)
I’m in the midst of coordinating this survey and didn’t realize this proposal was due today. I truly believe that it could benefit the evaluation field by providing useful and practical advice to something that many evaluators are probably experiencing. If students don’t even have the opportunity to provide insight, then educators (used in a very broad sense) are at definite disadvantage.
Presenting results in ways that are easily understandable and cost effective are other very relevant topics. We’ve created eye-catching infographics (paid a graphic designer to create the infographics) on three major topics. The intent was to add additional topics, but the time and cost prevented this. However, the infographics were updated with new results. Things like this should help the field.