Stakeholders Perspective - Overview

In 2002, a Colegio Maya School Climate Survey was conducted with the students and teachers. The students were surveyed about the instructional program, the support for student learning, and school climate as well as given the opportunity to voice their opinions about the things that should or should not be changed at Colegio Maya. Positive highlights of the survey as indicated by the students were:

• School work is challenging;
• Feeling that teachers were competent and professional;
• The school prepares students to deal with issues and problems that students will face in the future;
• A variety of learning activities are used in the classes;
• Grading and evaluation is fair;
• Belief that the instruction received allows for the necessary learning of knowledge and skills;
• Teachers are hold high expectations for student learning and provide the help needed in and outside of class;
• Students feel that they fit in at our school;
• Students, teachers and administrators demonstrate sensitivity to issues of racial and ethnic fairness;

Apart from the usual requests for less homework, efforts have been made to attend to the students’ requests. Some of these are the timeline of student exams and projects, music program enhancement, more college counselor presence, availability of technology, advisory program, better cafeteria services, and more after-school activities.

Feedback from the teachers’ survey was grouped into Professional Satisfaction, Relationship to Administrators, Relationship with Parents, Students and Board, Communications, Resources, Planning, and General issues.

The positive highlights as expressed by the teachers were: that they feel pride and get much personal satisfaction from being a member of the faculty, administrators are available and expect teachers to take leadership in initiating changes to improve effectiveness, satisfaction with the level of discipline, teachers and staff show concern for student learning and the individual needs of students, and that the teachers would readily recommend the school to families considering applying for admissions. Areas that were identified for consideration in improvements efforts were curriculum planning, cafeteria, connections with Guatemala, and fine arts.

In the fall of 2004, in an attempt to be more communicative and inclusive with the growing Korean student population, a parent information night was provided for Korean parents. During this evening information about academics, child development, and colleges information was shared. In addition, the Korean parents were surveyed so as to provide insightful information. Results confirmed that the Korean parents while continuing to raise their children with Korean language, they also strongly support academic development in the English language with a majority of the parents expecting their children to be prepared to enter university in the United States.

Given the recent results of the Korean parent survey, the question that was wondered out loud was “do the students agree?” The Social Values School Improvement sub-committee felt that not only would this information be insightful, but also the results of from the rest of the student population as well. The students in grades 3-12 were surveyed as to where they think that they would like to attend college, what areas do they feel most talented in and the areas that the school should focus more on. The survey also inquired as to study habits, languages spoken at home, activities participated in, opinions about the use of school values and advice for improving Colegio Maya. The results have been recently collated (see file) and for the next step, will be presented to students, teachers and parents for feedback.