Post-Graduate Survey Provides Important Data
April 5, 2017 (Independence, IA) – As part of its commitment to providing quality education and preparing our students for the future, the Independence Community School District (ICSD) has implemented Post-Graduate Surveys with Life-Track Services.
Founded in 1989 on the principle that every school should have the ability to hear from each and every student as they start down the path to adulthood, Life Track Services has helped thousands of educators and school officials to evaluate their performance as an educational institution and find out how their schools and programs measure up in the minds of the students, parents and the community.
The ICSD school board, superintendent and principals were looking for a way to pull together data to see how the district was doing in preparing our students for post-secondary endeavors, whether that be college, university or the workforce.
The ICSD began using the Life-Track Post-Graduate Surveys with the graduating class of 2015. Graduating seniors take the initial exit survey in the spring. They are then surveyed one year post-graduation, two years post-graduation and five years post-graduation. The Class of 2017 will be taking the survey in the coming weeks. The graduating class of 2016 will take their one year survey; the graduating class of 2015’s two year results just came in. All of the collected data is accumulated by Life-Track and will be presented to the ICSD school board in the late spring/ early summer.
The main purpose of the survey is to gather information regarding what our graduates are doing post-graduation; work, military, 4-year college, 2-year college, Vocational/Technical school, etc. and obtain the graduates’ views on how the district did in certain areas when they were students in the ICSD.
Superintendent Russell Reiter says, “These surveys provide very valuable information for our school district. Getting our students’ perspectives as recent graduates and then also after two and five years gives us a better picture of how we are preparing all students for their lives after high school.”
The graduates’ views are a valuable source of data for administrators and teachers. The responses will be used to evaluate the ICSD environment, school culture, curriculum, technology implementation, extra-curricular options and how students are prepared for post-secondary activities. Then, the district can work to make positive changes in all the areas the graduate noted; focusing on the areas where scores were not suitable.
Principal Howard states, “The information is highly beneficial for all–board members, administrators, staff, parents, community as we continually strive to be the best educational environment in the state.”
For more information on the Post-Graduate Survey, please contact Principal Howard at jhoward@independence.k12.ia.us or call 319-334-7400. For more information about Life Track Services please visit their website at www.graduate-surveys.com
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