The Jefferson County Teachers Association released the TELL Survey results today which demonstrate significant differences between opinions of teachers at Manual and those at other schools in Kentucky.

The greatest discrepancy between the opinions of Manual teachers and other Kentucky teachers was evident in the category of student conduct.  92% of Manual teachers said that they spend less than one hour per week dealing with discipline issues. However, 20% of JCPS teachers as a whole said they spent more than three hours per week on discipline.

Only 2% of Manual teachers believe that policies and procedures about student conduct are not clearly understood by the faculty, but only 82% of all JCPS teachers believed that policies and procedures are not clearly understood by the faculty.

The TELL Survey is a questionnaire given to Kentucky teachers every two years, requesting their opinion on different aspects of the school where they work. The purpose of the survey is so schools can focus in on areas where they need improvement and address teacher grievances. This year, the survey had an 87% response rate.

Manual’s teachers also indicated that they spend much less times in required committee and/or staff meetings than many others. 82% of Manual teachers said they spend one hour or less per week in these meetings, while 51% of JCPS teachers said they spend over an hour per week in meetings.

Manual teachers tended to agree more strongly that Manual does a better job dealing with parent communication than teachers of other schools. 95% of Manual teachers agreed that the community they serve is supportive of the school. However, 22% of all JCPS teachers disagreed that their school does is supported by the community.

Brent McKim, president of the Jefferson County Teachers Association, said that while there may be discrepancies in the results between different schools, this year’s data is not surprising. “Each time the survey is given, a few schools stand out with particularly high or particularly low scores,” he said. “For the most part, based on feedback from our members, we have a pretty good idea what the result are likely to be and are rarely very surprised by what we see.”

McKim is also optimistic about how the survey’s results will be used to improve schools within Kentucky. “Across the state, the TELL survey has been very effective in helping schools identify growth areas and plan their improvement strategies,” he said. “Of course, some schools utilize this information more effectively than others, but in general the survey provides important information that supports improvement efforts very broadly across the Commonwealth.”