The Mark Hopkins Accountability Committee (MHAC) recently conducted a survey for Mr. Winger and the Hopkins staff to gauge how parents feel about Hopkins Elementary School.  Hopkins is committed to creating an environment where each student is safe, where students are supported in becoming curious and confident learners, and ultimately where all students flourish.   As an accountability committee we developed this survey as one more tool for measuring Hopkins’ performance.   We focused on three aspects of school that are vitally important: communication, school climate and student learning.  Many of you participated, as 173 responses were collected, representing approximately half of Mark Hopkins families. 

MHAC compiled the results and is pleased to report its findings.   Mr. Winger and the Hopkins staff will use the survey results to assess progress and target areas for improvement.  While the entire survey can be accessed on the link below, we are very excited to share some of the highlights:

• Regarding student learning, 97% of parents “agree” or “strongly agree” that “the teacher knows my child’s academic strengths and weaknesses.” 
• That same percentage of parents (97%) “agree” or “strongly agree”  that “Hopkins promotes curiosity and enthusiasm for learning.”  

This is an outstanding outcome, reflecting the teachers’ efforts to get to know each student and Hopkins’ commitment to academic achievement. 

The results also affirmed that Hopkins is a very caring community.  Highlights on school climate include the following:

• Parents/guardians were asked if they agree that their child’s teacher cared about their son or daughter as a person.  172 of 173 respondents replied affirmatively (99.4%), with 150 parents responding “strongly agree.” 
• There were similar results for the question “My child enjoys coming to school at Hopkins.”  Again, 99% of parents either “agree” or “strongly agree.” 

Several questions addressed school safety:

• Approximately 88% of parents “agree” or “strongly agree” that “I feel my child is safe from bullying or mean behavior at school.”
• Almost 85% “agree” or “strongly agree” that “my child knows how to respond to someone who tries to bully or intimidate him/her.” 

While these results related to safety are positive, they also indicate an area for ongoing attention.  The goal at Hopkins is to ensure all students feel safe and to support all students in developing the skills and confidence to respond adeptly if conflicts occur.  Toward that end Hopkins will be adding a half time Dean of Students for the 2013-2014 school year.  Lindsey Ervin has been hired in this role and she will help to coordinate the PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Support) program at Hopkins, guiding students to interact positively in the classroom and on the playground and overseeing the efforts at Hopkins to support students’ social and emotional development.  We are excited about the next steps Hopkins is taking in this area.

Hopkins has a commitment to free-flowing communication between parents and staff.  Feedback on the survey shows parents are informed about their child’s learning progress and calls/emails are returned in a timely manner.  We appreciate comments regarding improvement of News from the Pond and the Hopkins website.  Mr. Winger always welcomes feedback from the community so if you have any questions, comments or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact him.  MHAC would like to thank all the parents who participated in this survey. We feel that this is a useful tool to help Hopkins shine and keep our school community moving forward.

Please click HERE if you would like to view results of the entire survey.

Sincerely,

Mark Hopkins Accountability Committee

Gary Shoffner, Chairperson

Kirsten Roen and John Heffelfinger, Survey Committee Members