PEA Students Surveyed
In collaboration with the Academy, the Center for the Study of Boys’ and Girls’ Lives (CSBGL) required the entire student body to participate in the Comprehensive Assessment of Student Life (CASL) on Wednesday, Dec. 14th. Information regarding this survey was sent out in an all-campus email by Dean of Academic Affairs Karen Lassey and Director of Studies Brooks Moriarty.
The CSBGL is dedicated to improving school culture and focuses on conducting Youth Participatory Action Research, a type of qualitative research that uses the experiences of youth in order to inspire change within a scholastic community. “We work by engaging school staff and students with university scholars in a research process that is responsive to the needs of each school,” Moriarty said. He emphasized the importance of cross-school collaboration so that lessons learned by one school or survey might have an impact elsewhere.
According to Moriarty, Exeter was first introduced to this opportunity by Principal Lisa MacFarlane. After learning about the program through other heads of schools, MacFarlane asked Lassey, Dean Melissa Mischke and Moriarty to think about implementing it. “We saw it as a great way for students to be agents of change to improve student lives,” Moriarty explained.
“We work by engaging school staff and students with university scholars in a research process that is responsive to the needs of each school.”
The CASL survey took a half hour to complete and explained to its taker that the results would be used to help Exeter become more “responsive to student needs.” Data collected from students will also be compared to nine other independent schools taking the survey. Moriarty stressed that the survey responses will not only used to both design research projects but also to evaluate future interventions and research studies at Exeter.
The study was composed of 66 questions concerning bullying, diversity, personal background, relationships, academic pressure and support from teachers and other faculty, as well as other aspects of life on campus. Student’s failure to participate in the survey resulted in an unexcused absence.
Upper Jaynee Anaya, one of the students working with the CSBGL student-led study, joined because she was interested in the process of cultural study and the relevance of society system research in the PEA community. Anaya explained that the group—composed of eight students—meets twice a week and communicates frequently with a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who advises them.
Prior to the focus on the CASL study, Kron and the rest of the students involved with the CSBGL were tasked with researching problems that they believe Exeter faces and using the results from their research to create change in regards to those issues in the community. Last spring, with the help of mentors from the CSBGL, PEA students crafted their own survey, focusing their questions on gendered practices within the Exeter community, such as the visitations policy and the tradition of Evening Prayer. Once the survey results are collected, the group will use the information in a presentation at the University of Pennsylvania, in collaboration with the other schools involved in the project.
However, not all students’ answers were compiled and studied. Instead of taking the results from all participants, Moriarty sampled 100 students by only sending the student-created survey to 25 Exonians from each grade.
“The survey results will be shared with the students involved in the CSBGL work in 2017-18, and they may design a new research topic for next year based on the results,” Moriarty sad. He emphasized that, as of now, there is no way to know what the responses to student answers will be. “Survey results identify aspects of student experience that need improvement,” Moriarty said. He detailed an example of one such improvement— diversity in the curriculum teacher feedback as a result of end-of-term comments.
However, since this is the Academy’s first year involved with the organization, the two surveys will not be examined in conjunction with each other.
Information gathered from the CASL will not only be available for Exonians involved with the project, but for the Georgetown Day School, Greenwich Academy, Miss Porter’s School, St. Paul’s School, the Shipley School, Green Farms Academy, Lawrenceville School and the Maret School.