I Better Together

Background

Del Mar Union School District (DMUSD) is a high performing district that serves close to 3,700 students in 9 k-6 schools. DMUSD has a long history of supporting educational initiatives by working with schools to improve learning outcomes of students. In a direct effort to increase student achievement and broaden community involvement, DMUSD has engaged in a comprehensive, well-orchestrated, stakeholder driven planning process that resulted in a compelling purpose and set of values to guide improvement efforts. Six core values underscore Del Mar’s purpose of the unrelenting pursuit of the extraordinary school experience and Del Mar’s vision to ignite genius and empower students to advance the world:

  • An outstanding educational program
  • A culture that values diversity and promotes equity and inclusion for all
  • High-quality professional learning
  • State-of-the-art facilities
  • An exceptional STEAM+ program
  • Student agency and ownership

These critically important values and district strategic endeavors provide the foundation for the important work underway in the district and are central in the collection of research-based data from students, parents, and staff to provide feedback to individual schools and the district through a series of surveys in a partnership effort entitled ‘Better Together.’ In moving towards these core values, the district is taking proactive actions with the Better Together team to collect data and objectively review and share results with an eye toward actionable data. This report provides district-level results from students, teachers, staff, parents, and administrators for the 2024 year of data collection.

Overview of the report

The report is organized by major stakeholder groups (students, teachers, staff, parents, and administrators) with general findings by larger construct area (e.g. Climate). The purpose of this data is to support the district in making informed decisions, track progress, and craft action steps based on the input of all stakeholder groups. The report is designed to be interactive and provide the district with useful and actionable data.

II Reader’s guide

How is the report organized?
The report is organized by major stakeholder groups (students, teachers, staff, parents, and administrators) and by larger construct area (e.g. Climate). The data is presented in interactive bar charts. The interactive tabs in each section can be used to navigate to the various data representations. The purpose of this data is to support the district in making informed decisions, track progress, and craft action steps based on the input of all stakeholder groups. The report is designed to be interactive and provide the district with useful and actionable data.

What information is provided in the bar charts?
The bar charts provide percentages, counts, and means. These metrics summarize the data of different individuals and different items on the survey. Mean scores represent the average of the data points collected among individuals on various items. As the items are generally worded in a pro-social manner, higher mean scores reflect more alignment with district values. The main purpose of the bar charts is to compare individual data points with each other at a glance. The bar charts in this report present domain means, percentages, or counts. By hovering over the bar charts, the exact values appear. By clicking on the legend of the bar chart, you can hide certain traces or make them reappear. By double-clicking on a category in the legend, you isolate that trace. Individual charts can be saved as a picture and printed by clicking on the camera symbol above the graph that appears when hovering over the graph.

What is the meaning of the values in the graphs?
Each time mean scores and standard deviations are presented, the numeric values are explained based on the answer scale. Each value refers to an answer category in the scale, for example, ‘strongly agree’ or ‘almost always’.

III Response rates

The charts below show the response rates for the targeted students, teachers, school classified staff, and targeted parents in percentages and based on counts.




Response rates: Percentages

Legend: The numbers in the graph represent the percentage of people that responded to the invitation to participate per group.




Response rates: Count

Legend: The numbers in the graph represent a count of the participants per group.




IV Data per domain

The survey covers five domains: The school climate, professional community, relationships, parent and community involvement, equity, and instructional approaches. These main domains are aligned with the district’s vision, mission, and core values. Each category comprises a number of sub-domains that provide a more in-depth understanding of the main category.

The presentation of the data is broken down based on the four groups that participated in the survey: Students, teachers, staff, parents, and administrators. For example, in the first part you read about the demographics of the students that participated, students’ reports on the schools, and students’ learning experiences. The interactive tabs in each subsection help navigate to the interactive bar charts that show the results.

Below, you find a short summary for each domain. By clicking on the legend of the bar chart, you can hide certain groups or make them reappear. Individual charts can be saved as a picture and printed by clicking on the camera symbol above the graph that appears when hovering over the graph.

Climate

The survey measured the following aspects of school climate: General culture and climate, climate about teachers, climate about principals, climate about school community, and climate about innovation.

Example items from the leadership survey are:

  • DMUSD sets high standards for academic performance
  • DMUSD administrators are friendly and approachable
  • Decisions, policies and programs are made in alignment with the district’s vision, mission, and values

Example items from the certificated survey are:

  • The school is able to marshal community support when needed
  • The interactions between the staff members are cooperative
  • The staff respect the professional competence of their colleagues

The data presented in this section is based on a 6-point Likert scale. The mean scores in the graphs represent the average of the data points collected among individuals on various items.

Legend: The numbers in the graph represent the mean per domain.



Professional community

The survey measured the following aspects of professional community: Peer collaboration, collective involvement, and resources for collaboration.

Example items from the leadership survey are:

  • Opportunities are provided for DMUSD administrators to informally share ideas and suggestions for improving student learning
  • DMUSD administrators work together to seek knowledge, strategies, and solutions to address diverse student needs and apply this new learning to their work

Example items from the certificated survey are:

  • Collegial relationships exist among staff members that reflect commitment to school improvement efforts
  • Opportunities are provided for staff members to informally share ideas and suggestions for improving student learning

The data presented in this section is based on a 6-point Likert scale. The mean scores in the graphs represent the average of the data points collected among individuals on various items.

Legend: The numbers in the graph represent the mean per domain.



Instructional approaches

The survey measured the following aspects of instructional approaches:

Teacher as a guide on the side
Schoolwork is tailored to competencies, level, prior knowledge, pace, and needs
Student voice and choice in instructional goals
Student voice and choice in learning strategies
Helpful interaction and collaboration among students

Example items from the certificated survey are:

  • I provide students the opportunity to create goals for their own learning
  • I consider student needs via flexible scheduling
  • In my classroom, students learn about things they find important

Example items from the student survey are:

  • My teacher is available when I need him or her
  • My teacher and I work together to set goals for my learning
  • Working together with other students is helpful

The data presented in this section is based on a 5-point Likert scale. The mean scores in the graphs represent the average of the data points collected among individuals on various items.

Legend: The numbers in the graph represent the mean per domain.



Gap analysis based on the student reports

Bar chart: An overview students’ experienced and desired instructional approaches

Teacher as a guide on the side
Student voice and choice in instructional goals
Student voice and choice in learning strategies
Helpful interaction and collaboration among students

Legend: The numbers in the graph represent the mean per domain.



Gap analysis based on the teacher reports

Bar chart: An overview teachers’ experienced and desired instructional approaches

Schoolwork is tailored to competencies, level, prior knowledge, pace, and needs
Student voice and choice in instructional goals
Student voice and choice in learning strategies
Helpful interaction and collaboration among students

Legend: The numbers in the graph represent the mean per domain.



V Data per stakeholder group

Four groups participated in the survey: Students, teachers, staff, parents, and administrators. The presentation of the data per group is broken down based on the different domains. The interactive tabs help navigate to the interactive bar charts that show the results per group.

By clicking on the legend of the bar chart, you can hide certain scores or make them reappear. Individual charts can be saved as a picture and printed by clicking on the camera symbol above the graph that appears when hovering over the graph.

When looking at the differences between different means presented in charts, it is important to draw conclusions carefully. In this report, we break down the data per group, domain, and even per item of the survey. By breaking the data down in such detail, there is an increased likelihood that small differences are due to chance.

Students

The data presented in this section is based on a 6-point Likert scale. The mean scores in the graphs represent the average of the data points collected among individuals on various items.

Legend: The numbers in the graph represent the mean per domain.

Teachers

The data presented in this section is based on a 6-point Likert scale. The mean scores in the graphs represent the average of the data points collected among individuals on various items.

Legend: The numbers in the graph represent the mean per domain.

Certificated staff

The data presented in this section is based on a 6-point Likert scale. The mean scores in the graphs represent the average of the data points collected among individuals on various items.

Legend: The numbers in the graph represent the mean per domain.

Classified staff

The data presented in this section is based on a 6-point Likert scale. The mean scores in the graphs represent the average of the data points collected among individuals on various items.

Legend: The numbers in the graph represent the mean per domain.

Parents

The data presented in this section is based on a 6-point Likert scale. The mean scores in the graphs represent the average of the data points collected among individuals on various items.

Legend: The numbers in the graph represent the mean per domain.