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At the recent parent teacher conferences, Hankinson administrators took the first step toward improving the school by conducting a survey to gauge school atmosphere and quality of instruction. 

“School improvement action plans occur on five-year cycles, and we are at the beginning of a new one. These surveys will help us understand what needs to be worked on as we develop our plan of action,” said Hankinson Superintendent Jess Smith. 

The administration wasn’t looking for anything specific from the survey given to students, parents, and faculty. They were more interested in an overview of how the school is perceived by these groups and what they are concerned with as the school goes forward, he said. 

“We really just wanted a feel of where we are at as a school as far as general atmosphere, curriculum and things of that nature,” Smith said. 

The questions, provided by the Lead Center of North Dakota, ranged from school climate questions like “My school is an inviting place,” to instruction questions “Teachers have high academic expectations of me,” and more specific questions about the quality of instruction in different categories like math and language arts. 

Survey takers answered the questions on a one to five scale, from strongly disagree to strongly agree. 

“Some of the important things we were looking for were things like do kids feel safe at school, and do they feel challenged,” Smith said. 

The school board went over the results in a preliminary manner Wednesday night and they expect to further discuss the data at the upcoming meeting so they can begin to decide what needs to be improved and what is working well. 

“It is always interesting and incredibly useful to have feedback from faculty, students and parents when trying to gauge the status of our school,” Smith said. 

However, Smith was a bit disappointed that only about 30 percent of parents decided to return their surveys. 

“It could be they don’t have time, they forgot about it, or they think everything is going well, but this information is important to us. If we don’t know about an issue it is difficult to address it, but if we get a large portion of parents concerned about a particular issue, that is something we want to take a look at,” he continued. 

During the next few weeks, Smith and the administration will be going over the results.

“We look at everything. If we see a problem we will try and make changes but we can’t guarantee anything,” he said. “Some things come down to funding.”

Based on the survey, the students were concerned with three things, technology, foreign language and school lunch. 

“It’s difficult to keep up with the students when it comes to technology. We can get new computers every three to five years, but they are obsolete to the students who are often working with more advanced technology in their every day lives,” Smith said. 

Students also expressed concern over the foreign language offerings at Hankinson High School, but this problem can be difficult for small school districts to deal with, Smith said. Currently, Spanish through the ITV system (shared by four local schools) is the only course offered. 

“It can be difficult for students when the teacher isn’t in the classroom,” Smith said. 

The faculty who responded to the survey gave discipline, health, social studies and career technology curriculum only neutral marks, but, along with the students and parents, agreed that math and science are the strengths of Hankinson School. 

Parents who completed the survey seemed positive about their child’s school environment and educational opportunities, with high marks on almost all of the survey questions. 

The next step for Smith and school administrators will be to analyze the data further, find target areas that need to be strengthened and other areas that need to be maintained. The school will then follow through with a plan of action submitted to the state on how they will accomplish their goals. The entire process is mandated for each school every five years. 

Their plan of action will take effect during the next school year.