Harnessing the Power of Student Survey Data

Miwok Middle School's Equity-Centered Approach to Cultivate a Culture of Belonging

Overview

Located in Sacramento City Unified School District, Miwok Middle School serves 1,075 students in grades 7-8 (CA School Dashboard, 2023). In an effort to check in on their students’ social-emotional well-being, Miwok Middle School partnered with the SHIFT Research Institute at UC Berkeley to administer the Berkeley Assessment of Social and Emotional Learning (BASEL; © Regents of the University of California). While the school had administered school climate surveys in the past, site leaders hoped to find a survey that could provide more actionable insights to improve school climate and culture for their students of color, in particular. The BASEL survey addressed this need, as it was designed to support local social-emotional learning (SEL) programming for equity and well-being by facilitating the measurement of 1) emotional well-being, 2) resources for coping, 3) experiences of safety and connection, 4) opportunities for student voice and leadership, 5) experiences with culturally and linguistically responsive environments, and 6) social and emotional competencies including transformative equity elaborations). 

When Drs. Addison Duane and Valerie Shapiro of the SHIFT Research Institute reached out to Miwok Middle School to be one of two potential pilot sites in the district to administer the BASEL survey, they welcomed the opportunity to assess students’ well-being and the conditions that shape their learning experiences — with an explicit focus on equity. Through this partnership between research and practice, the team sought to collaboratively answer the following two questions:

“I hoped to learn from a student perspective: how are they experiencing school here? It's one thing when we think we know, right? …which is far different from actually hearing from a kid.”

- School Site Leader

Focusing on Social-Emotional Learning with an Equity Lens

Year after year, despite teachers’ efforts in trying different instructional strategies, the same student groups continued to struggle in English Language Arts and Mathematics. Rather than continuing to focus on the academic piece, the school changed its approach and began with the basics — Are students engaging in class? Do students feel safe and supported to engage in class? Do they feel like they belong? As the school continued to anchor their goals around students’ social-emotional well-being and build in time for these discussions, teachers were excited to see how the BASEL survey could further inform their efforts in supporting students in the classroom.

CAASPP (English Language Arts & Mathematics)

This graph illustrates the distance from standard in which students are meeting grade-level standards in English Language Arts and Mathematics (2023 Dashboard).

"I can really be myself at school." (Feb/March 2023)

This graph shows the percentage of students who answered Strongly Agree or Agree to the "I can really be myself at school" question during the February/March 2023 survey administration
(2023 CERA Presentation).

The BASEL was initially administered to students at Miwok Middle School during a two-week survey window in February and March of 2023. The district used the Kelvin survey platform, currently available for free to all local educational agencies in California, to administer the BASEL. Kelvin real-time reports disaggregate the survey results by student groups (e.g., race, gender, disability status). When looking at these reports, it became evident that their African American student population was reporting less favorably on the climate questions. Although African American students only make up 4.6% of Miwok’s student population (CA School Dashboard, 2023), the school felt it was imperative to center and prioritize the voices of these students. Continuing on the thread of belonging and connectedness, they decided to focus their efforts on one question — "I can really be myself at school" (BASEL; © Regents of the University of California). By focusing on that one question, digging into the data didn't feel as overwhelming and it gave teachers a starting point to pose questions, generate ideas, and discuss strategies to help students feel more connected and comfortable in the classroom. 

Prioritizing Data-Driven Discussions

Before the 2023-24 school year started, Principal Cristin Tahara was intentional about holding time during their pre-service week to share the data for the “I can really be myself at school” question. She first shared the overall results and then the disaggregated data by subgroup. After sharing the data, Principal Tahara turned it over to the teachers to start posing questions on their own. Using different colored post-its, they began generating questions using the following prompts: 

The discussion didn’t end there. Miwok Middle School paired their survey data with student-focused empathy interviews and listening sessions, with the support of researchers from the SHIFT Research Institute and the Healthy Environments and Response to Trauma in Schools (HEARTS) program, to uncover deeper insights into their school culture and climate. Miwok site leaders invited SHIFT researchers to come to campus to conduct student focus groups to further understand student responses on the survey. Focus group student participants spanned both 7th and 8th grade and were mostly comprised of students of color. During these conversations, researchers asked “What would you want adults at school to do with the survey responses you shared?” HEARTS's listening sessions were specific to Miwok’s Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) student population, focused on relationships, safety, and sense of belonging at school. Across all additional forms of data collection, findings revealed that students want to feel connected and have trusting relationships with adults who care about them, see them for who they are, and intervene when they witness behaviors that may make other students feel unsafe (e.g., bullying, microaggressions). Students also called out the importance of seeing representation of different cultures, ethnicities, gender, etc. in what they're taught. With this additional data, Miwok was able to focus their discussions on how staff can cultivate stronger relationships with their students. These conversations informed classroom practices, professional development topics, as well as the need to be more mindful and intentional about they interact with their students — and with each other as they are modeling how to treat others with respect. 

Implementing Anti-Bias & Trauma-Informed Practices

Miwok’s efforts around improving belonging/connectedness and centering racial equity in student data extends beyond their discussions in staff meetings. Miwok partnered with EPOCH Education to provide all staff with professional development focused on equity — how to recognize biases and microaggressions, how to interrupt these patterns, and how to effectively support students in the classroom as an anti-biased, anti-racist, trauma-informed educator. Through this work, Miwok Middle School has implemented some changes to ensure students feel seen, heard, and understood. 

"I can really be myself at school." 

(March, June, October 2023)

This graph compares the percentage of students who answered Strongly Agree or Agree to the "I can really be myself at school" question across three different survey administrations.
(2023 CERA Presentation).

For example, site leaders have worked with staff on the importance of representation in the classroom. From incorporating instructional materials and activities (e.g., novels, art, field trips) that honor different cultures, to highlighting examples of excellence in various fields by different races, ethnicities, and gender, Miwok staff have made a concerted effort to ensure that the diversity in their classrooms is reflected in their instruction. Teachers also walked away with specific strategies they could implement in the classroom to elicit student voice. These strategies included "connectors," which are ways for students to share about themselves and build their character traits (e.g. empathy, trust, integrity) through things like community building activities, group problem solving activities, open-ended reflection questions, quick writes, etc. 

Miwok’s intentionality around creating safe, supportive, engaging, and equitable learning environments for students is reflected in their data for the "I can really be myself at school" question from the BASEL. In February/March 2023, only 63% of African American students answered positively to that question, compared to 74% of all students. In October 2023, 78% of African American students answered positively to that question, compared to 84% of all students closing the initial gap of 11% to 6%. Next steps will involve statistical analyses to fully understand this change over time. 

Continuing Their Continuous Improvement Journey

As a generally high performing school, Miwok Middle School didn't have an established, collaborative data culture. Data analysis happened in pockets, where individual teachers would look at data specific to their students to monitor their progress. In an effort to bridge the gaps in their data culture, Miwok made a concerted effort to use data to improve their school culture and climate, rather than focusing solely on instruction. This provided a good entry point for all staff to be more data-focused. As students’ social emotional learning impacts all content areas and grade levels, teachers were more receptive to understanding the data, monitoring progress, and assessing current practices to determine opportunities for improvement. 

The goal was to get more student voice…to see how our students are feeling about the social climate at their school. There's been a lot of things, especially since the pandemic, and so I'm really trying to connect with our students.
How can we support an environment where students are feeling honored and loved?

- District Training Specialist

Improving students’ sense of belonging and connectedness has become a collective, school-wide effort, which has further been solidified by Miwok’s commitment to embed a goal specific to promoting a positive, inclusive environment for all students, as measured by the BASEL survey results, in their School Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA) (2023-24 SPSA). Having a common goal to rally around has reignited a stronger sense of purpose across the staff. In a way, it has become the school’s “north star” in guiding their data-driven conversations around not only their instructional practices, but their school practices and policies as well. Miwok began to examine all of their practices to understand how they may make students feel. They realized that something as simple as the school's dress code could be hindering their efforts to connect and build relationships with students, especially if staff are more worried about enforcing a policy than focusing on the student in front of them. Additionally, as dress codes are typically geared toward one gender and can be biased toward certain body types, Miwok wanted to ensure that their dress code policy helped students feel comfortable in who they are, without worrying about about another thing they did "wrong" at school. Miwok’s site leaders are hoping that their synergistic efforts will create a more cohesive, data-driven culture where teachers continue to build their capacity in examining, understanding and utilizing data to inform their continuous improvement process.

Lessons Learned

Miwok’s journey of improving their school culture and climate was only possible when everyone was focused and on board with what they were trying to achieve. Site leaders encouraged all teachers and staff to reflect on their “why.” What brought them to this career path? What were they hoping to achieve for their students? How does improving students’ sense of belonging fit into that? They wanted the entire school community to realize that their reason and purpose behind this work is one and the same — and that each of them serve a purpose in making students feel like they belong at school. With the collective support of their staff, they were able to begin building that foundation of trust between teachers and administrators. They were able to put their guards down throughout this continuous improvement journey. In doing so, Miwok hopes that they can do the same with their students to build a culture of belonging and connectedness.

Learn More About Miwok Middle School's Partners 

Meet the Team

Cristin Tahara

Principal

Jaime Bonata

Site Instruction Coordinator