Student perspectives on their school experience are a powerful force in supporting or inhibiting their readiness to learn. Students are able to fully commit to the learning environment of the school if and only if they are happy and not overly stressed academically or socially, if they find their classes to be interesting and engaging, and if they have a sense of belonging in the school community.
That is why ERB launched its Check-In Survey in 2022. As important as it is to monitor academic progress, the extent to which a student is able to learn fully to their potential will likely remain a mystery without also understanding how they experience the school culture.
Measuring 3 Dimensions of Student Well-Being at School
The Check-In Survey consists of 15 questions to which students are asked to respond on a five-point agree-disagree scale. These questions are connected to three dimensions of evaluation of the student experience:
- Academic Engagement: The five questions in this area focus on whether classes are interesting, whether it is important to do well in school, and whether the student talks about classwork outside of school.
- Emotional Well-Being: The five questions in this area ask about level of academic stress, level of social stress, whether the student is happy, and whether they feel good about themselves.
- Fairness and Belonging: Does the student feel like they belong? Can they be themselves at school? Do they feel like they are part of the school community?
“Students are able to fully commit to the learning environment of the school if and only if they are happy and not overly stressed academically or socially, if they find their classes to be interesting and engaging, and if they have a sense of belonging in the school community.”
— Tom Rochon, ERB President
The Link Between Student Well-Being and Academic Achievement
These three dimensions of the student experience each have a different relationship to academic achievement. Academic engagement addresses motivation to learn and efficacy as a learner. Emotional well-being examines whether the student is in the relaxed frame of mind that would enable them to focus on their studies. Sense of fairness and belonging addresses the extent to which the student identifies with the school community and is committed to being fully engaged in it.
All three dimensions must be present for a student to embrace the school experience and use it to reach their full potential as a learner. Learning growth may well falter when even one dimension is absent. Doubling down on academic support is unlikely to help a struggling student unless the underlying condition is addressed: increasing the student’s commitment to classwork, reducing their stress, or enhancing their sense of connection to the school community.
Analyzing Student Trends Across the School Year
This assessment is designed to be a “Check-In” rather than an in-depth assessment of a student’s state of mind. The survey is brief and non-intrusive on the academic schedule, thus making it possible to monitor change over time through periodic administration.
Data from early-adopter schools suggests a number of trends during the year to which school leaders might be attentive. For example, students’ sense of belonging in the school community tends to grow during the year, a trend that is especially important to monitor among students new to the school. On the other hand, stress levels also tend to increase as the year goes on, particularly in the spring. Our data indicate that academic interest may also drop off as the year goes on, especially in the middle grades.
These trends are preliminary sketches based on a relatively small number of schools, not to be compared in precision or reliability to the extensive database underlying CTP norms. But they do indicate the value of monitoring the student experience of school, which can vary greatly from September to May.
What the Check-In Survey Is—and Isn’t
The second key design feature of the Check-In Survey is that it has been crafted so as not to be a clinical assessment of a student’s state of mind. Though the survey asks about a student’s level of stress and whether they feel good about themselves, it does not dive into possible feelings of depression, loneliness, or thoughts about self-harm. Nor are students invited to type in comments on these or any other topics.
This design feature means that we can report individual student results without creating any potential liability on the part of the school to identify or respond to indications of serious mental health concerns. While it can be important for school leaders to know when a student needs intervention, we recognize that a brief survey cannot substitute for a more in-depth clinical assessment.
A Holistic Understanding of Student Growth
There are major advantages to being able to report individual student results from the Check-In Survey. ERB has developed the Rose Compass to provide an integrated picture of each student’s academic progress (as measured by the CTP and Milestones assessments), their sense of how well they are able to navigate the school and social environment (as measured by SelfWise, our CASEL-aligned inventory of social-emotional skills), and their emotional state of mind (through the Check-In Survey).
Consider the contrast between the two student profiles below:
Colin and Karen (both pseudonyms for real students) each need to do some work to get to grade level in mathematics. Their Check-In Survey profiles, however, suggest very different strategies for helping them advance in their studies. Colin has a strong sense of academic engagement and an exceptionally strong sense of belonging in the school community. He is ready to work actively and productively with any additional support he is given in Math.
Karen’s Rose Compass tells a different story. She is medium-to-low on all three dimensions of the Check-In Survey, and is particularly low in academic engagement despite her relatively strong performance on the ELA tests within CTP. Before Karen can benefit from additional support in Math, her underlying attitudes about school and the school community need to be better understood and addressed.
Our Recommended Approach to Check-In Survey Administration
While the Check-In Survey is still fairly new and we continue to learn from school experience with it, we recommend that it be administered within a few weeks of the start of the school year. This provides a baseline measurement particularly on the sense of belonging in the school community, as well as an opportunity to gauge whether there needs to be a focus on increasing student academic engagement.
A second administration of the Check-In Survey might take place in late October or early November, when school rhythms are well-established but before the end-of-year holidays begin to loom. This second administration can offer valuable insight into the extent to which new students are increasing their sense of belonging in the school community. It might also spot any concerning trends in student stress and academic engagement.
The process might then be repeated in the second half of the school year, with a Check-In shortly after students return to school in January and another just before or after spring break. Late April/early May might be a good time for a final Check-In, with particular attention to any increase in end-of-year stress. In addition, if there is any major incident in the school or the community that might impact a student’s emotional state, the Check-In Survey is ideally designed to be an immediate gauge of how students are reacting.
NEW: Introducing Check-In Survey Modules
Your school can now add Mission-Aligned Modules and Custom Modules to the Check-In Survey, alongside the 15 core items covering Emotional Well-Being, Academic Engagement, and Fairness and Belonging, so you can gather data insights aligned with your school’s mission and vision.
Reporting of Check-In Survey results on ERB’s 360 Access platform enables school leaders to chart trends in each indicator through the year. A few clicks can generate a picture of the school as a whole, class-by-class trends, and individual student results.
The Check-In Survey is a key aspect of ERB’s commitment to helping schools understand the whole child, with a focus on identifying what each one needs in order to maximize their potential.
Learn more about ERB’s Whole Child Solution, which bridges the gap between student academic achievement, well-being and belonging, and social and emotional skills.
About the Author
Thomas R. Rochon became president of ERB in 2017. He has held faculty appointments at Princeton University and Claremont Graduate University, a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University, and a year as Fulbright Scholar in Japan. Administratively, Tom has served as dean and provost at Claremont Graduate University, as provost at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, and as president of Ithaca College in New York. During the 1980s and 1990s, he was a regular speaker on European political trends for foreign service officers in the U.S. Department of State. Within the world of educational assessment, Tom has served as executive director of the GRE testing program at the Educational Testing Service.
