Mid-Year Surveys

For many of us, it is natural to rely heavily on our memory of personal experiences when engaging in a process of reflection. Though this is important as a professional and personal practice, this approach can often lead to skewed perceptions which are heavily subjective to our own biases, both conscious and unconscious. Having concrete figures to reference as your starting point is very helpful in mitigating this bias as you pull from the different data sources available to you. This is where our Unconditional Education programs find themselves this January as we begin our reflective practice by asking our school partners how they feel the year is going so far. Standing at the intersection of education and mental health services for youth, we embrace this annual practice to both celebrate our efforts and successes and to help fine tune and guide our work for the remainder of the year.

The UE Mid-Year Partnership Survey asks our partners how we are doing with components of the UE Model related to School Wide Support Systems and Culture and Climate, Direct Student Services, Progress Reporting and Equity. This year we are excited to report participation in our survey across 95% of UE partnership schools with over 725 individual responses!

At schools where students are receiving direct services from UE Teachers, Support Counselors and/or Clinicians, approximately 400 partners responded to these four main questions: 

• 92% agreed or strongly agree that they find the provider(s) of these interventions to be professional and collaborative
• 85% agreed or strongly agree that the providers are knowledgeable and skillful in helping teachers to implement classroom interventions to support students receiving this service
• 69% agreed or strongly agree that they feel well informed about what their students are working on and what growth they are making with Seneca.
• 82% agreed or strongly agree that Seneca staff work to collaboratively explore racial identity, historical racism, and implicit/explicit bias and the ways these impact students’ needs and experiences in the classroom.

While these are the core questions we ask year over year during our mid-year temp check, this year we set up our surveys a little differently, asking the professional and collaborative, knowledgeable and skillful and works collaboratively questions of both teachers with students in their classes who are receiving direct services and of school staff and teachers we support to plan interventions outside of the classroom. The "I feel well informed" question was only asked of teachers with students we serve in their classes as they are our primary school staff recipients for goal and progress sharing.
So what did we learn? In general, both the classroom teachers with students in their classes who receive direct service and school staff we work with outside of the classrooms both feel supported and largely appreciate our services and collaboration. We also know that while staff outside of the classroom seem very satisfied, there is room to grow this year in exploring how to better connect, communicate progress and plan with classroom teachers. These themes were further supported by the qualitative responses from our partners when asked for constructive feedback and partnership highlights from the year. 
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We definitely look forward to hearing from all of our partners again at the end of the year on how we responded to their feedback. In the meantime, here are a couple highlights from what our school partners had to say about the work this year so far:

“Working with Seneca is helping us use data consistently to foster change in our school.  Additionally, it keeps our Culture [and] Climate goals at the forefront, making sure we are implementing tiered levels of support in order to achieve our goals.” Administrator at Francisco Middle School in San Francisco

“Seneca staff members are welcoming to staff and especially students. The Seneca partnership allows the school to run smoothly by providing students a safe space and an opportunity to explore coping tools that support them beyond the classroom.” Classroom Teacher at Montalvin K-8 in West Contra Costa

“I am ceaselessly impressed with how the Seneca team collaborates and supports me in the difficult moments, while also helping maintain a constant sense of high expectations and a growth mindset for the students we share.” Classroom Teacher at Rosemary Elementary in Campbell

“I think this program is great to have on campus.  It gives students a safe space to learn and have a safe space to check back into when they are having a rough time. It helps to give them strategies and methods of coping and being able to self navigate.” Classroom Teacher at Mt Eden High School in Hayward

“Students have bonded with each other and have become friends and are being more inclusive and accepting. As an educator, I have created a bond with the students from Seneca. I have also grown a stronger connection and am learning how to support my own students. My bond with my colleagues from Seneca has also grown stronger.” Classroom Teacher at Grant Elementary in San Lorenzo

“[The Seneca Staff] supports students on her caseload, but is readily available for consultation for all students within our school. She is very supportive of our school wide culture and climate goals and provides support to teachers on her caseload on strategies to use with students in the classroom.” Administer at Horace Mann Elementary in Oakland

“Working with [Seneca Student Support Counselors and Therapists] is always a pleasure. They always are willing to listen to and share feedback. I feel that we share the same mindset when it comes to caring for the kids and families at Cox.” Administrator at Cox Academy in Oakland

“Our Seneca Therapist is consistent, supportive, and has really been helping our students. She has been an amazing resource on our COST team and is knowledgeable about students and has strong relationships with families. Staff also have started sending in biweekly SEL blurbs and resources for our staff which teachers have really appreciated! She is also starting this week with some classroom lessons in the upper grades which I'm hoping we can continue in the spring as well. She has also hosted a wellness event for staff this fall.” Administrator at Searles Elementary in Union City

“Seneca staff has been practically life-saving and absolutely invaluable in making school work for our students with behavior and socio-emotional challenges and supporting a positive culture in our school.” Support Staff at Daniel Webster Elementary in San Francisco

Blog Post Written By: Jordan Ullman, Director of Assessment and Evaluation