A Sociology Class Explores the Quality of Local Education
by John E. Lewis, Sociology Teacher
Spaulding High School, Barre, Vermont
 My Story
My involvement with community service learning in my classes started with an invitation. An invitation from the coordinator of our stand-alone Community Service Learning (CSL) program and the school principal. It was nice to be asked. So often educational initiatives are mandates not invitations. I was flattered. The teachers chosen to pilot this CSL in the Classroom initiative at Spaulding High School were viewed as flexible and innovative. I was curious. I had thought about developing more CSL type learning experiences in my classes, but how? I was skeptical. How would I find time to do the planning and development that would be necessary to make this an effective addition to the curriculum? The answer to this question turned out to be a great selling point for my involvement in CSL.
Community service learning in the classroom evolved
I particularly liked this CSL in the classroom initiative because it allowed me to make more direct connections between curriculum content that I was already teaching, and a practical and relevant application of this course content. This was motivational for the students and beneficial for the school community. The CSL component was not a replacement for what I was already teaching, but an addition that enhanced what I was teaching. It was a project that became part of my curriculum, not a replacement for it.
From a short brainstormed list of CSL projects I settled on one for the sociology course that I teach. I wanted a project that could involve the entire class, would enhance the content that I already teach, and could be an ongoing project for future sections of sociology. Our Curriculum and Instruction Director (Jeff Maher) had just begun a survey of recent Spaulding graduates to determine how these alumni viewed the quality of education at Spaulding. He hopes to use this information as one of many evaluative tools for making decisions about educational programming. He recruited members of the National Honor Society to conduct telephone interviews of the classes of 2000 and 2002. Mr. Maher became our client for this CSL project. The task for my class was to analyze the data from these phone surveys and report our analysis to the school's Action Planning Committee. (The Action Planning Committee is a standing committee of school administrators, parents, community members, faculty, and students who make recommendations for school improvement at Spaulding).
 A number of the students in the section of Sociology that was first involved in this CSL project had been involved in making the survey calls, so the data analysis was another step in the process for them. Others in the class were motivated by this project because of the direct application to school improvement. Here was a clear way that they could help make student voices be heard about the quality of education they were receiving. Students were interested to see if the opinions of recent graduates about the quality of education at Spaulding differed significantly from their own experience. I was excited about this as an enhancement of a unit on survey research methods where I already had students look at education survey data (the Senior surveys conducted by VSAC) and test scores (SAT and NSRE scores). The CSL project allowed us to take this informative, yet purely academic exercise and transform this learning into a way to actually contribute to the decision making for school reform at Spaulding.
Colleague consultations are an excellent professional growth opportunity
We began this CSL initiative as a core group of teachers recruited to develop A CSL component for their classes. Working with this group of colleagues, each from a different discipline, was another benefit to this process. The monthly colleague consultations that we participate in to explore solutions to problems we are having in implementing our CSL curriculum have proven to be one of the best staff development experiences I have ever participated in. The chance to problem solve and share ideas with colleagues who I would not other wise collaborate with has been the highlight of this experience for me.
What students gained
For the students, adding a CSL project to the research methods component of my sociology course has proven to be a highly motivating activity. They were able to be involved in a process that will provide data on which the school's Action Planning Committee will make decisions for school improvement. While they will not see the fruits of this effort immediately, the students were excited about the process of looking at raw survey data and in being one of the core groups that were involved in interpreting this data.
The service learning goals for this project addressed some of the Vital Results in the Vermont Standards. Specifically standards for communication, questioning and problem solving, and change.
Timeline and description of student or program participants
This project has been completed by two sections of a one quarter sociology class in the Spring semester 2003. Sociology is an elective half credit course. Approximately 35 students have been involved in this CSL project to date.
Materials and Resources Needed
The essential resource for this project is the telephone survey data. This data was provided by the National Honor Society students who conducted the survey. The raw data was then tabulated by a parent volunteer. Mr. Maher provided our class with the copy of the survey and the tabulated data. Resources on descriptive and inferential statistics were also helpful.
Essential Questions:
How can graduate survey data be used to help improve education and school environment at Spaulding High School? Will student analysis of telephone survey data provide a unique perspective and be useful to the Action Planning Committee?
Focusing Questions
How can survey data be organized? What questions from the survey are most important to focus on from the students' perspective? How will this information be presented to the Action Planning Committee?
Rationale
Make a direct contribution to the process of school improvement by providing student perspective on the quality of education at Spaulding.
Culminating Activities
Students develop component of survey analysis to be presented to Action Planning Committee by class representatives.
Sharing with Staff and Administrator(s)
Students develop component of survey analysis to be presented to Action Planning Committee by class representatives.
ADDRESSING SERVICE-LEARNING BEST PRACTICES
Curricular-Learning Goals
Students will learn fundamental concepts in descriptive and inferential statistics.
Students will work and communicate effectively in teams.
Students will demonstrate problem solving skills through analysis of survey data.
Learning Standards
Standards from Vermont Vital Results: Questioning/Problem Solving; Civic/Social Responsibility; Communication - Information Technology and Literacy; Change; Service to community
Assessment of Learning Goals
Teacher evaluation of student work. Evaluation steps: student teams' suggestions for methods of data analysis, student teams' suggestions for survey item analysis, student teams' draft graphs, student teams' final graphs, student teams' analysis write up for presentation.
Student self-evaluation of analysis process.
Service Goals
a.) Identify community need(s) to be met: Organization and interpretation of survey data from student perspective. Contribute to data driven school improvement process.
b.) List service goals: Describe how the need be met. Analyze survey data, develop presentation for the Action Planning Committee, deliver presentation.
c.) Identify students’ role in meeting the need, and how they could work toward a
lasting solution to the need. Students will be one of the groups (stakeholders) analyzing this data. This will be an ongoing project -- annual surveys will be conducted so that analysis of new data will be necessary.
Evaluation: Identify the methods to be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the service.
Student self-evaluation of analysis process.
Teacher evaluation of student work.
Feedback from Action Planning Committee on presentation.
Feedback from Director of Curriculum and Instruction on usefulness of data analysis.
Challenges: For all participants, think about:
a.) cognitive, physical, social, emotional, and ethical challenges;
b.) new roles and/or responsibilities in unfamiliar settings
One cognitive challenge for all participants was the effective selection and application of descriptive statistics. A future challenge as we expand on this project is applying meaningful inferential statistical methods. A social challenge for students was presentation anxiety in a community forum. A logistical challenge is arranging for student participation in presentations after school after the course has been completed.
Participation: Describe how you will ensure that all participants will share the selection, design, implementation, and evaluation of the project. How will you ensure student voice and ownership?
Students work in analysis teams with 3 or 4 members in each team. Student evaluation is based on group work. Each team member must sign off their approval of work submitted by the group. Teacher observation of student teams as they work is also part of the evaluation process.
Diversity: Identify opportunities to:
a.) discuss/value differences
In this project diversity is addressed by the process of students analyzing survey data from the student perspective. They had to determine what are the most important elements of the high school experience to consider through this survey data. The student perspective maybe unique when compared to the perspectives of other stakeholder groups (parents, administrators, faculty, etc.)
b.) interact with a variety of individuals/groups
Members of student teams were assigned based on diversity of leadership, communication, and creative ability.
Action Planning Committee to whom the students presented their analysis included diverse stakeholders.
Community Connections: Identify ways to:
a.) build knowledge about the community and its resources
Students become more aware of, and involved in, the process of evaluation of a major community institution.
b.) cultivate contacts with community partners and resources
Action Planning Team members
Preparation: Describe how participants will be oriented with necessary knowledge and skills—including site information, safety information, and cooperative agreements or policies. (Think about the connections between service and learning)
Group class instruction in descriptive and inferential statistics.
Discussion, planning and implementation of effective ways to present data analysis.
Reflection: Identify multiple methods of reflection to be used by all participants with approximate before, during and after dates.
Analysis teams formed and brainstorm how data might be organized and analysized. Ideas submitted by team recorders for teacher feedback.
Analysis teams brainstorm items on survey that they will select for analysis. Lists submitted to teacher for feedback.
Each team focuses on one analysis question generated from survey data. Team decides how to organize and present data. Team completes sketch graphs and data descriptions. These are submitted for teacher feedback.
Teams create two graph formats and compose written interpretation of data analysis in computer labs. Submit for teacher feedback.
Teams select graph formats that they feel will best communicate information to audience and make revisions to written interpretation that will be the basis for presentation to Action Planning Committee.
Teams brainstorm recommendations for future surveys.
Celebration: Identify methods of appropriate recognition for all achievements and the participants themselves.
Presentation for Action Planning Committee. (Because this culminating activity occurred after the completion of the course we did not have a celebration and reflection on the presentation as a group. If scheduling allows in the future I would prefer that we be able to have a follow up activity after the presentation to the Action Planning Committee.)
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