By: Damon Curry and Jack Flesher
Every year Buffalo high school sends out a survey to all the students and teachers to take. Although we all may or may not participate in completing the survey students –or even take it seriously- very few students and some teachers might not know just how much this survey impacts the way this school runs. The administration takes this survey and its responses very diligently, using all of the responses to acquire an accurate portrayal to how students are coping with this year of high school.
The survey is 45 questions, with 40 of them being multiple choice and the final five questions being a short answer response. Every student is asked to take the survey but it isn’t required. This survey shows increases and decreases of student responses from previous years compared to the present year, as well as our school survey results compared to a nation overall response. Our school makes many decisions and changes based off of these forty-five simple questions. What the survey shows is working is the students (93 percent of them) feel supported by a teacher. And 88 percent saying that they feel supported by another adult which is an increase from 83 percent in previous years. As well as 74 percent of students feel that they can comfortably report bullying, which may seem lower than most, but is a huge increase from the 66 percent from last year. The administration can then look to see what students said about not being able to report bullying, such as; what demographic of students say they are being bullied, or is it people that are in the free lunch category. All of this can be seen just from survey results.
Because of this survey, a change in SSR will take place. It will be going into effect sometime next year. When the administration saw a flaw in something, they work quickly to fix it, and next year’s change will be sure to do so.
Nationally the school is well above the average with an outstanding 93 percent of response takers stating that they feel that Buffalo High School is welcoming place, whereas nationally it’s only at 60 percent. About 24 percent of Buffalo High School students feel that bullying is a problem, but it is still lower than the national average of 40 percent.
“Schools just don’t give out these kind of numbers,” said Assistant Principal Kris Thompson. “These are crazy good numbers.”
Students are not the only one who benefit from the survey, the BHS staff hold meetings to evaluate how their school year went and what they would like to see change.
Next year, when the survey comes around, take a second look at each of the questions and take it seriously, because big changes can happen to our school based off of these answers. So give the school good responses to work with and remember just how far one survey can go.
