School Survey Says…

  • Asked of students (1/34)
    Most of the teaching staff at my school make me excited about learning.
  • Asked of students (2/34)
    Most adults at my school care about me.
  • Asked of students (3/34)
    Most of the teaching staff at my school expect all students to work hard.
  • Asked of students (4/34)
    Most of the teaching staff at my school give me regular and helpful feedback on my work.
  • Asked of students (5/34)
    At my school I need to work hard to get good grades.
  • Asked of students (6/34)
    My school offers a wide enough variety of programs, classes and activities to keep me interested in school.
  • Asked of students (7/34)
    Most of the teaching staff at my school expect me to continue my education after high school.
  • Asked of students (8/34)
    Most adults at my school help keep me on track for college or career.
  • Asked of students (9/34)
    At my school I am safe on school property outside the school building.
  • Asked of teachers (10/34)
    I usually look forward to each working day at my school.
  • Asked of teachers (11/34)
    School leaders place a high priority on the quality of teaching.
  • Asked of teachers (12/34)
    School leaders visit classrooms to observe the quality of teaching at my school.
  • Asked of teachers (13/34)
    The principal at my school knows what's going on in my classroom.
  • Asked of teachers (14/34)
    The principal at my school places the learning needs of children ahead of personal and political interests.
  • Asked of teachers (15/34)
    I have sufficient materials, equipment, and assistive technology in good condition to teach my class(es).
  • Asked of teachers (16/34)
    My school offers a wide enough variety of programs, classes and activities to keep students engaged.
  • Asked of teachers (17/34)
    My school helps students reach targets for mastery of important skills and content.
  • Asked of teachers (18/34)
    My school uses assessments that are relevant to my daily instruction.
  • Asked of teachers (19/34)
    Teachers in my school use multiple forms of student achievement data to improve instructional decisions.
  • Asked of teachers (20/34)
    I would recommend my school to parents seeking a place for their child.
  • Asked of teachers (21/34)
    At my school, order and discipline are maintained.
  • Asked of teachers (22/34)
    At my school, there are conflicts based on differences (race, color, creed, ethnicity, national origin, citizenship or immigration status, religion, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, disability, or weight).
  • Asked of teachers (23/34)
    At my school, students are often harassed or bullied in school.
  • Asked of teachers (24/34)
    At my school, students' use of alcohol or illegal drugs or abuse of prescription drugs is a problem at my school.
  • Asked of teachers (25/34)
    At my school, crime and violence are a problem.
  • Asked of teachers (26/34)
    At my school, gang activity is a problem in school.
  • Asked of parents (27/34)
    My child's school has high expectations for my child.
  • Asked of parents (28/34)
    My child's school gives my child meaningful assignments that help him or her learn.
  • Asked of parents (29/34)
    My child's school provides my child with extra help when he or she needs it.
  • Asked of parents (30/34)
    My child's school is responsive to parent feedback.
  • Asked of parents (31/34)
    My child's school communicates with me in a language that I can understand.
  • Asked of parents (32/34)
    My child's school keeps me informed about what my child is learning.
  • Asked of parents (33/34)
    My child's school keeps me informed about services for me or my child, such as tutoring, after-school programs, or workshops at school.
  • Asked of parents (34/34)
    My child's school helps keep my child on track for college, career and success in life after high school.

Survey responses

How the schools scored

For each question, every school receives a score based on its survey responses. We’ve plotted the schools on the map and the distribution chart below, coloring the schools with the worst scores red, the schools with the best scores green, and the rest somewhere in between.

Issue 13 | October 3, 2013

School survey says…

Each year, the New York City Department of Education conducts a school survey, which asks public school parents and teachers, as well as students in grades six through twelve, to answer questions about a wide range of issues, from safety to teacher effectiveness to the availability of classroom resources. It’s one of the biggest such surveys in the country. The most recent survey, released last month, had 985,771 respondents.

A summary of the survey’s findings is available, as are reports from individual schools. But to gain both a broad and granular perspective on this wealth of information, we combed through the results of the 2013 survey, pulled out some of the more interesting questions, and visualized the results.

Take a look

The data upon which this visualization is based comes from the New York City Department of Education’s 2013 survey responses from community schools.

Gideon Dresdner loves language both human and machine. In his spare time, he plays the banjo and practices Chinese wrestling. A native Brooklynite, he lives in Crown Heights.