west elgin secondary school promotion and retention report
TRANSCRIPT
West Elgin Secondary School Promotion and Student Retention
Report
May 15, 2015 Brendan Carey Emma Wilkins
Introduction During the 2014-‐2015 school year, both of us served as student teachers at West Elgin Secondary School for a period of six weeks (Brendan Carey October-‐November with Rob Tait and Emma Wilkins March-‐April with Al Roos). While we were working at WESS we both became familiar with some of the difficulties the school is going through. As recent graduates from WESS (2008 and 2009) the most observable difference between our high school careers and the present is student enrolment rates, which has dwindled from a little over 500 during the mid-‐2000s to below 400 in the 2010s. While much of this can be partially attributed to declining birth rates and the effects of the 2008 recession on a largely working class community, it has also come to our attention that WESS faces much more competition from other schools contending for students in the West Elgin area. Ten years ago the only choices students had for secondary education were WESS or St. Joseph’s Catholic High School, which was a more ideological than academic decision. However, today students can choose to attend Arthur Voaden Secondary School or Parkside Collegiate Institute as well. It is evident that students in the West Elgin area have more choice for secondary education than ever. Objective Without question, providing students with more options for their education than the previous two-‐size-‐fits-‐all system of ten years ago is much better, however it would be naïve to deny that the bigger city schools have benefitted at the expense of rural schools such as WESS. The fewer students at WESS, the less teachers, course variety, and extracurricular programs there are to benefit the students who chose to receive their education in their community. To succeed, we believe that WESS must continue to adapt and tailor itself, as much as it can, to the needs and desires of its present and future students. What do the students want? What are the best things about WESS and what are its deficiencies? How can WESS serve its students better now and in the future? Why are some students choosing to attend schools in St. Thomas rather than walking across the parking lot from West Elgin Senior Elementary School? For our T2P alternative practicum we decided to return to WESS, a school that we care about and want to see succeed for many more years to come, to answer these questions. Method To find a solution to these questions we developed three surveys for WESS stakeholders: present students, future students, and faculty. For two days we surveyed WESS students in period one and asked them:
• What do you like best about WESS? • What do you like least about WESS? • Would you recommend WESS to potential future students? • What new clubs or teams would make WESS more appealing?
• Why do students in West Elgin choose to go to school elsewhere? To determine how WESS can better attract future students, we also surveyed students at West Elgin Senior Elementary School. We solicited answers to the following questions:
• What is your perception of WESS? o If you think positively, why? o If you think negatively, why?
• If you have siblings who attend/have attended WESS, why did they choose to do so?
• Do you plan to attend WESS? o If so, why? o If not, why?
• What would make WESS more appealing to you? Finally, we solicited the opinions of WESS faculty to see what they think the school needs to do to improve. This served a dual function because it allowed us to gather information on the teachers’ opinions and enabled us to determine if the students and staff agree on what WESS’s strengths and weaknesses are, and how it can improve. The questions we posed to the faculty were:
• What are the school’s best selling points in attracting future students? • What are some of the school’s deficiencies and how can they be improved
upon in order to attract more students? • How can West Elgin promote a better image of itself within the community? • What are some creative ways to fundraise to support new school programs
and/or initiatives? • Do you have any other thoughts or suggestions?
Findings WESS Student Surveys
For the first question, we sought to find out what the students liked most about WESS. We believe that their answers should be used as the main selling points of the school and should be highlighted when interacting with potential students. The far away favourite of most students was the small town/small school environment that WESS has. Everybody knows everyone and it allows the school to build a tight-‐knit community. Additionally, many students believe that the teachers genuinely care about them and, because of the size of the school, they are able to build important relationships with the faculty. We were surprised to see sports and extracurricular activities third because we know that some have been reduced due to student interest and low staff numbers. The “other” category only received 5% of the total answers, which included answers such as the drama club, science class, mural painting, no uniforms, and student leadership.
Tech Classes 5%
Free Time/Long Breaks
7%
Close to Home /Sleep in 7%
Teacher 1-‐on-‐1 Time 11%
WESS Sports/Extracurricular activities 15%
Teacher Quality 15%
Small School/Small Town Environment
35%
Other 5%
What Do You Like Most About WESS?
The most popular criticism that the students had about WESS was the lack of course options. The silver lining for this issue is that if the information in this report is able to increase student population, more class variety will be possible. What was deeply concerning for us was our discovery that bullying and student negativity toward others was the second most popular complaint about WESS. To further this point, some of the students we surveyed from WESES said that they would never attend WESS because they had older siblings who were “bullied out of the school.” This came as a surprise to both of us because during our time as students and student teachers we did not notice any cases of bullying, but the fact remains that this is a significant issue decreasing student happiness and satisfaction. Another concerning answer was that someone or several people have been peeing in the drinking water fountains. Although only 3% of students listed this answer, it happened often enough to be tied with students’ dislike for prevalent drug use and the school’s small size. Although we are not aware if these rumours are true, it is a rumour nonetheless and can play a role in diminishing WESS’ reputation with potential students and parents in the community. Some “other” answers included insufficient library hours, lack of authority, and lack of heating and cooling.
Smokers/Prevalence of Drugs 3%
People Pee in the Water Fountains
3% Small School 3%
Few/No Field Trips 5%
Cafeteria/Quality of Food
6%
Teachers Not Engaged with Students
6%
Lack of School Spirit 8%
No Football Team/Few Extracurriculars
11%
Student Negativity/Bullying 14%
Few Class Options 34%
Other 7%
What Do You Like Least About WESS?
Overall, 82% of students enjoy WESS enough to recommend it to other
students. However, 7% are unhappy with their time at WESS enough to state that they would actively tell other students not to come to this school.
The two most popular extracurricular activities that WESS does not offer are
football (25%) and baseball (15%). However, other than those two sports there is
Yes 82%
No 7%
Unsure 11%
Would You Recommend WESS to Potential Future Students?
Hunting Club 5%
Robotics/Coding Club
5%
Baseball 15%
Football 25%
Other 50%
What New Clubs or Teams Would Make Wess More
Appealing?
very little consensus. Some other popular suggestions were horse riding club, video game club, wrestling team, board game club, fencing, swimming team, cheerleading, paintball club, chess club, car club, outdoor club, model UN club, and agriculture club.
When asked why they think other students in West Elgin choose to go to schools elsewhere, the majority of students listed poor course selection as the most important reason. Nine percent of answers described that many students believe the
Parents Dislike WESS 2%
No Extras (musical theatre,
vocal, etc) 4%
Negative Public Opinion of WESS
5%
Dislike the Student Culture of WESS 6%
Bullying 7%
Want to Meet New People/New Experiences
6%
Perception of Better Education
Elsewhere 9%
Better/More Sports Teams Elsewhere 10%
Poor Course Selection 51%
Why Students in West Elgin Choose to Go to School Elsewhere?
education at other schools is better than at WESS. Surprisingly, many students have been led to believe that attending WESS will drastically hurt their chances of getting into post-‐secondary schools. This is something we believe should be clarified/dispelled when WESS representatives speak with students at WESES. We discovered that:
• More than 75% of WESS students met or exceeded government standards in math EQAO
• 60% of WESS graduates attend post-‐secondary school (28% university, 32% college), which is 6% more than the provincial average1
Furthermore, 6% of students dislike the student culture at WESS. This includes student frustration that nobody wants to take a leadership role in clubs, students disrespect the school and teachers, and many are not proud of their school.
1 These are 2009 stats and were taken from the WESS year review white binders (no title)
WESES Student Surveys
Positive 89%
Negative 11%
What is Your Perception of WESS?
Small school environment
5% Friends Go There 5%
Great Teachers 10%
Family attended WESS 11%
Extracurricular Activities 12%
Heard Good Things 51%
Other 6%
Why do you Think Positively of WESS?
Eighty-‐nine percent of students we surveyed from WESES stated that they think favourably of WESS. We asked those students to explain their reasoning and the majority gave vague answers that can be consolidated as “they have heard good things about the school.” Second, many students know about WESS’s extracurricular activities and sports and expressed that they would like to partake in some of those activities when they attend this school. Family members who have attended WESS and told them great things is third at eleven percent, which is followed by their impressions of the school’s faculty at ten percent. Generally, the responses to this question were not overly surprising.
The students who responded that they had negative opinions regarding WESS were asked to explain their reasoning as well. This question provided some interesting answers because it does not directly correspond to the answers provided by WESS students as to why some students in West Elgin attend other
Hear Bad Things 38%
Poor Course Selection 6%
Too Much Bullying 25%
Smoking and Druge Use 31%
Why do you Think Negatively of WESS?
schools. WESES students listed poor course selection only six percent of the time, compared to fifty-‐one percent of WESS student answers. This suggests that perhaps WESS’s inability to offer many courses is not as big of a concern as we might have thought and new students are much more concerned with a school’s culture. This hypothesis is supported by the students’ answers as “smoking and drug use,” and “too much bullying” account for a combined fifty-‐six percent of answers. Many students described that they did not like how their most frequent experience with WESS is seeing students outside the school smoking. Numerous others described bad experiences with WESS students who bullied them, their friends, and/or their siblings in various ways. While this is very concerning, it is important to note that only eleven percent of students we surveyed listed that they have a negative perception of WESS, so these answers do not speak for all students at WESES.
The students who have siblings who attend or have attended WESS were asked to state why their sibling chose our high school over one out of the area. Their answers to this question suggest that the vast majority of students chose WESS
Close to home 73%
Friends go to WESS 18%
Outstanding Teachers 6%
Family went to WESS 3%
Why did your Siblings Choose to Attend WESS?
simply because it is close to home, which allows them to sleep in a bit later. Friends attending WESS is the second largest motivating factor at a distant eighteen percent.
To get a sense of future numbers of students who plan to attend WESS from WESES over the next two years, we asked the students where they plan to attend secondary school. The results suggest that WESS can expect to receive roughly one hundred students over the next two years and lose about thirty students to out of market schools. While these numbers can be helpful, it is important to keep in mind that half of the students we surveyed were in grade seven, so this could change positively or negatively in over the course of the 2015-‐2016 school year.
Maybe 5%
No 18%
Yes 77%
Do you Plan to Attend WESS?
The students who stated that they plan to attend WESS were asked to explain their reasoning. The findings for this question were similar to those found from the “why did your sibling attend WESS?” question, with a few slight differences. WESS’s proximity to the students’ homes is still the leading motivating factor, however it received nearly thirty percent fewer responses than the sibling question. This difference was countered by a drastic increase in family pull factors, an increase from three percent in the sibling question to twenty-‐two percent in the latter. Consequently, it stands to reason that if the oldest child attends WESS, there is a significant chance that their younger siblings will make the same decision.
Outstanding Teachers 3%
Friends are Going 11%
Heard Good Things 18%
Family Attended WESS 22%
Close to Home
46%
Why do you Plan to Attend WESS?
The students who indicated that they do not plan to attend WESS were subsequently asked to explain why. What was interesting from their answers was that many parents actively pressure their children to not attend WESS. The parents reasons are usually the same as the other answers on this graph, such as better sports at other schools and a belief that students will receive a better education and/or have a better chance of getting into a post-‐secondary institution if they go to out of area schools.
Want to Meet New People
4%
Better Education Elsewhere
9%
Hear Terrible Things About
WESS 13%
More Extracurriculars Elsewhere 17%
Parents Want Student to go Elsewhere 26%
Better Course Selection Elsewhere 31%
Why do you Not Plan to Attend WESS?
Finally, we surveyed all students for their ideas on how WESS can become a more appealing option for secondary education. Broadly, there was a tie for the two most frequent requests: more sports teams/extracurricular activities and greater course selection. Overall, sports/extracurricular activities account for forty-‐eight percent of suggestions, but we decided to make the football team and cheerleading their own categories because they were repeatedly requested. When analyzing the requests for more courses, we split the two main course demands (food and nutrition course and cosmetology) into their own categories because they were very frequently suggested. When combined, more course selection, especially grade nine level courses, made up forty-‐seven percent of the requests.
Remove Ugly Hallway Paintings
2%
Better Food/Drink 3%
Cheerleading 7%
Cosmetology Course 10%
Football Team 12%
Offer More Courses 17%
Food/Nutrition Course 20%
More Sports Teams/
Extracurriculars 29%
What Would Make WESS More Appealing?
WESS Faculty Surveys The faculty surveys were read and analyzed individually, with general conclusions made for each question. It was great to see the variety of thoughts presented by the staff, each staff member bringing new ideas to each question. The conclusions were as follows: 1. What are the school’s best selling points in attracting future students? Small town:
• Everyone knows everyone, you are a somebody here, and there is a loud student voice within the school
• The majority of the teachers are from this community and genuinely care about the students
• Teachers provide a safe learning environment School Opportunities:
• WESS offers a lot of the same clubs and sport teams offered in a larger school • WESS has two Specialized High Skills Majors programs • Students as a whole are prepared for their post secondary education
2. What are some of the school’s deficiencies, and how can they be improved in order to attract more students? School Improvement:
• Increase staff to offer more extracurricular activities to students • Provide better course selection for students • Improve disciplinary action for student misbehaviour (develop
accountability in students) • Better community relationships
Student Improvement: • Increase school spirit, and develop student morale • Improve communication via social media and our school website • Offer more lunch time activities
3. How can West Elgin promote a better image of itself within the community?
• Update school motto • Outreach programs such as canned food drive and community clean up days • Utilize front sign at the school and the school website • Open doors to the community by running local events at the school • Increase involvement with Aldborough and Dutton Elementary schools
4. What are some creative ways to fundraise to support new school programs and/or initiatives?
• Overall consensus was that fundraising provided little benefit to the school itself. All monies raised must first go to the board. In addition to this community fundraising portrays a school that is need of money furthering our image as a ‘welfare school’. However community fundraising run
through the school was suggested. Some of these ideas were Relay for Life and canned food drives, where we can give back to the community
5. Any further thoughts or suggestions. • Bring in alumni guest speakers • Re-‐implement the reading programs for Aldborough and Dutton Elementary • Introduce a life skills course
Conclusion We discovered that the general consensus is that WESS is a great school because it is small, which provides a community where everyone knows everyone. Both the students and the staff addressed this as the school’s main selling point. While many teachers believe that the high skills major courses highly incentivise future students to attend WESS, we discovered that not a single student at WESES or WESS listed it as something they like about WESS or would make them want to come here. Perhaps the WESES students do not know about them or they do not consider it because they cannot take the courses until they are in grade eleven. However, we are unsure as to why there is a disconnect between the faculty’s perception of the high skills major and the students who are presently at WESS. When asked about the school’s deficiencies, the staff and students believe that the school needs to offer more variety of courses to attract new students, but both acknowledge that it is a “catch-‐22” situation. We need more students to get more courses, but we need more courses to get more students. However, the staff and students disagreed on bullying being a major deficiency. Numerous students listed bullying as a reason why they do not like WESS and some WESES students described scenarios where their older siblings warned them against coming to WESS because of the prevalent bullying. We acknowledge that we were only in the school for six weeks during our practicum placements at WESS, but we did not notice any bullying, nor did the staff suggest that it was a big problem. Evidently, there is a disconnect between the staff and students on this central issue. The teachers and students are generally on the same page for how to improve WESS in the future. Both believe that there needs to be more extracurricular activities, but few suggestions were provided on how to accomplish this. We also discovered that many believe WESS is lacking school pride. Some students even recommended holding pep rallies before significant sporting events. Perhaps if more people were exuberantly happy to be a wildcat, they would be much more likely to join or run clubs, go to sports games to cheer on our teams, and respect the school and others around them.