Parents of Juneau elementary school students have the most confidence in the Juneau School District, according to a survey conducted in May of randomly selected parents.
The survey was presented last night (Thursday) at the second annual School Summit at Thunder Mountain High School. The purpose of the summit was to share student achievement reports and the annual survey.
District Superintendent Glenn Gelbrich said the survey showed elementary parents expressed the greatest confidence, followed by middle school parents, and then high school parents.
“When we asked parents about the confidence not of the district, but of their school, we see a similar pattern, ranging from 83 percent confidence at the high school level, to 91 percent confidence at the elementary level,” Gelbrich said. “When we drilled down even further, and we asked about parents’ level of confidence in their child’s teacher, or in secondary schools’ teachers, the parents surveyed indicated even stronger confidence, ranging from 85 percent at the high school level, up to 93 prcent at the elementary level.
The summit was step two of a three-tiered approach to reviewing Juneau student’s academic performance. Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, results under the federal No Child Left Behind Act were released earlier this month. Gelbrich told the 50 to 60 parents, teachers, and principals gathered in the TMHS auditorium that math scores are trending upward and science scores have reached a four-year best.
“Again, this is State standards. Overall when we look at ‘so how are we doing in relationship to the State of Alaska?’ Juneau School District students out-perform students statewide,” Gelbrich said. “And while we think this is good news, we know that Alaskan standards are, when compared to standards in other states nationwide, relatively low, so we want to set the bar higher.”
Following Gelbrich’s presentation at the School Summit, the audience broke into groups to review each school’s academic performance. Click here to open School Summit presentation (PDF).
