Winter Academics Discussion Survey 23-24

The Why

In the summer of 2024, the College Ready on Track Network created a student survey based on the PMR2 survey to help us better understand our Driver Diagram and the impact of Academic Discussions in the classroom. The survey was given in the fall, and winter, of the 2023-2024 school year, and will be administered within the network once more after spring break. After the winter administration, we can see that students’ sense of belonging and mathematical confidence may be shifting within Network Classrooms. However, these changes do not provide answers but raise important questions for us to further investigate.

Check out the Academic Discussion Survey Questions

Below are the participation rates for the winter administration of the Academic Discussions Survey. Although overall completion is lower than the 2,647 students surveyed in the fall, we believe there are still strong signals within the data. We look forward to a spring administration with an even stronger sample size.

Outcomes to Celebrate

743 students took the Academic Discussions Survey in both the fall and winter and had the same teacher for both administrations. Of those students, we saw a strong increase in positive responses to the questions shown below. All of these questions directly relate to students’ Sense of Belonging within our Driver Diagram. The College Ready on Track team is digging deeper into contextual factors to better understand whether feeling a sense of belonging within the classroom is more proximate to academic discussions than something like math identity.

This increase in positive responses was especially pronounced for Black students who completed the fall and winter survey with the same teacher, of which there were 62 students.

We saw a 7% increase from current MLL students (182 students) in response to “Other students value my ideas in math class.” All other MLL designations saw a 4% increase in positive responses.

Thought-Provoking Outcomes

Although the Academic Discussions Survey indicates an increase in students’ sense of belonging, there is still variability amongst overall percent positive responses and change in percent positive responses. These results provide an opportunity for the team to continue learning about varying circumstances.

West High School saw an increase in positive responses from students who took the Academic Discussions Survey in both the fall and winter with the same teacher for nearly every question on the Survey (99 students). We are encourages by their growth and anticipate digging deeper into their data in the spring.

Further Questions

After investigating the results of the Academic Discussions Survey, the team is left with many more questions than answers and is eager to dive into spring results. Each data point is a piece of the puzzle that helps us better understand the impact of academic discussions in the classroom.

Are the signals that we’re seeing within the Academic Discussions Survey around sense of belonging in math class attributable to the work of the College Ready on Track Network?