Methuen School Committee reviews family climate survey results; members note low participation

The Methuen School Committee reviewed raw results of a family school-climate survey during its Feb. 24 workshop business session, with staff presenting initial breakdowns of responses and committee members raising concerns about low participation.

Superintendent (unidentified in the transcript) invited staff to present the family-survey data, and Dr. Golovski walked the committee through the Panorama Education survey results, which staff said were collected through SurveyMonkey and focused on school safety, family engagement and overall climate. “We have for you just basically raw data from the family survey that we sent out,” Dr. Golovski said when introducing the presentation.

The survey instrument and question set were described as developed by Panorama Education, with questions prepared by Dr. Gelbach and his team from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. As staff noted, the survey platform generated the charts shown to the committee.

Why it matters: Committee members said the results will inform strategic objectives and possible targeted actions at schools. Staff said the district plans to compare family responses with student data gathered by VOCAL and by student youth participatory action research teams at each school,…