By Adam Pagnucco.
Part One explained the methodology of MCPS’s staff climate survey. Part Two summarized some stats from FY23. Part Three looked at five survey questions on which MCPS did well. Today, let’s look at five questions to employees on which MCPS did not do well.
Q: At my school, we use structured conversations as a way to bring instructional challenges to the forefront to collaboratively problem solve.
Q: During the past week, how often did you feel hopeful about work?
Q: How often do you receive feedback on your teaching/work?
Q: During the past week, how often did you feel excited about work?
Q: When there are major news events related to race/ethnicity, how often do adults at your school talk about them with students?
Low rates of feedback suggest detached management in at least some schools. The lack of hope and excitement suggests the existence of morale issues in parts of MCPS, especially at schools that did poorly on these measures. (Among high schools, Clarksburg, Richard Montgomery and Wootton stood out for their lack of positive responses on both these questions.) And as for the last question, are MCPS staff supposed to discuss major news events related to race with students? Is that an expectation for their jobs?
The average responses mentioned so far conceal vast differences between schools. We will begin exploring those differences between high schools next.