Here's what they could have done--although, I am not sure about privacy issues, etc.

I taught young children. A tip that someone gave me: during recess--pick two or three kids every day to observe and make notes. It only takes a very short time to see if they are interacting appropriately with other kids--or not interacting at all. And, of course, during recess, if you note something troublesome, make a note of that, too. This ensures that even those kids who "fly under the radar" get observed.

As one of my colleagues said one time, "I don't worry about the kids who run in an hug me--I worry about the ones who hang next to me at recess." Some kids will practically rub up against a teacher. Those are usually the needy ones.

What I am saying, is that a survey like this is not helpful. Observation is. I cannot speak for older kids, but for elementary, teachers taking notes would be much more useful. And, of course, this does not mean you don't observe in the classroom, but a teacher can learn a lot about a child at recess.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's weird to me the number of people who are certain their children wouldn't answer these questions as earnestly and honestly as possible, though I agree there would be all kinds of problems with taking the responses as in any way actionable at the individual level. In the aggregate I think deviations across schools might be worthwhile indicators of thematic issues/concerns to dive deeper with teachers, but should not be taken as prescriptive of a particular course of action to address them.

[b]The FCPS website says that the results will be used to determine interventions for the students themselves. It says, "The SEL Screener provides a first look at areas in which students may need extra support. Teachers may collect more information to understand their strengths and needs. This information helps teachers plan targeted instruction or intervention if needed. Results support SEL skill development for whole classrooms, small groups, or individual students. This way, all students have the opportunity to build the skills needed to be successful."

I don't need my 4th grader pulled to be given interventions -- instead of classroom instruction on academics -- because he said he didn't care about other people's feelings in the last 30 days.

VDOE was required to put together the SEL curriculum. The 2020 Legislature passed that law. But the individual school districts aren't required to implement it unless they want to. I wish FCPS would drop this and focus on the remediation they need to do. That's going to go further for equity than anything else.

Will this survey help in getting my shy, introverted, anxious kid any help with social skills and public speaking?

Anonymous wrote:The race question is completely out of place, especially for ES kids. My 4th grader (a racial minority) isn’t going to understand what “honest discussion about race” means.

Same. Out of curiosity I asked my ES kid (racial minority) how he would answer those 2 questions on race and he said he does not know which option to pick.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's weird to me the number of people who are certain their children wouldn't answer these questions as earnestly and honestly as possible, though I agree there would be all kinds of problems with taking the responses as in any way actionable at the individual level. In the aggregate I think deviations across schools might be worthwhile indicators of thematic issues/concerns to dive deeper with teachers, but should not be taken as prescriptive of a particular course of action to address them.

The FCPS website says that the results will be used to determine interventions for the students themselves. It says, "The SEL Screener provides a first look at areas in which students may need extra support. Teachers may collect more information to understand their strengths and needs. This information helps teachers plan targeted instruction or intervention if needed. Results support SEL skill development for whole classrooms, small groups, or individual students. This way, all students have the opportunity to build the skills needed to be successful."

I don't need my 4th grader pulled to be given interventions -- instead of classroom instruction on academics -- because he said he didn't care about other people's feelings in the last 30 days.

VDOE was required to put together the SEL curriculum. The 2020 Legislature passed that law. But the individual school districts aren't required to implement it unless they want to. I wish FCPS would drop this and focus on the remediation they need to do. That's going to go further for equity than anything else.

+100.

Reading, writing, and arithmetic are the biggest equity issues of our time.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/03/opinion/kids-reading-spelling.html

Anonymous wrote:It's weird to me the number of people who are certain their children wouldn't answer these questions as earnestly and honestly as possible, though I agree there would be all kinds of problems with taking the responses as in any way actionable at the individual level. In the aggregate I think deviations across schools might be worthwhile indicators of thematic issues/concerns to dive deeper with teachers, but should not be taken as prescriptive of a particular course of action to address them.

The FCPS website says that the results will be used to determine interventions for the students themselves. It says, "The SEL Screener provides a first look at areas in which students may need extra support. Teachers may collect more information to understand their strengths and needs. This information helps teachers plan targeted instruction or intervention if needed. Results support SEL skill development for whole classrooms, small groups, or individual students. This way, all students have the opportunity to build the skills needed to be successful."

I don't need my 4th grader pulled to be given interventions -- instead of classroom instruction on academics -- because he said he didn't care about other people's feelings in the last 30 days.

VDOE was required to put together the SEL curriculum. The 2020 Legislature passed that law. But the individual school districts aren't required to implement it unless they want to. I wish FCPS would drop this and focus on the remediation they need to do. That's going to go further for equity than anything else.

The race question is completely out of place, especially for ES kids. My 4th grader (a racial minority) isn’t going to understand what “honest discussion about race” means.

It's weird to me the number of people who are certain their children wouldn't answer these questions as earnestly and honestly as possible, though I agree there would be all kinds of problems with taking the responses as in any way actionable at the individual level. In the aggregate I think deviations across schools might be worthwhile indicators of thematic issues/concerns to dive deeper with teachers, but should not be taken as prescriptive of a particular course of action to address them.

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, my third grader isn't in tune enough with her emotions to be able to answer this survey!

This! My 8 yo is going to answer always. There is no way she’s doing a deep dive on herself to answer correctly. We’re opting out. It’s a waste when we already know her answers won’t reflect her emotional reality

Whatever help this would be in actually helping kids learn critical social and emotional skills in our experience the teachers already do. Teachers already know my kids so well and identify areas of social and emotional improvement - usually things we are working on at home and so appreciate backup from the school on. Teachers have been critical in my kids' social and emotional development and I'm grateful. I often lift ideas fro my kids' teachers for my parenting.

This survey adds nothing, except a paper trail.

I tried to download the lessons for this unit and I got a zip folder of french based lessons on the Atom. ummm...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Why the race questions then? Seems a bit out of place if the concern is for their mental health after a year of distance learning.

Here's why: then FCPS can say "OMG, 78% of students at (insert wealthy school) are not comfortable having discussions about race! Quick, airdrop Ibram X Kendi books into the library! Stop teaching math and instead teach race essentialism!"

They will use the results of this survey to further the implementation of CRT and race essentialism in the schools.

Ugh. I am not against CRT per se but reading Kendi uncritically and teaching it as “gospel?” That’s indoctrination, not education.

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, my third grader isn't in tune enough with her emotions to be able to answer this survey!

Agreed! I doubt my 3rd grader will understand the questions re race and ethnicity.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is that the survey that asks about parent political views, parent alcohol use, parent drug use...?

That is different and given to 8th grade (and maybe hs?) in the spring. I believe that is created outside of the school system and the data also goes to Fairfax County.

I need to find the link to opt out

Anonymous wrote: Why the race questions then? Seems a bit out of place if the concern is for their mental health after a year of distance learning.

Here's why: then FCPS can say "OMG, 78% of students at (insert wealthy school) are not comfortable having discussions about race! Quick, airdrop Ibram X Kendi books into the library! Stop teaching math and instead teach race essentialism!"

They will use the results of this survey to further the implementation of CRT and race essentialism in the schools.

Anonymous wrote:My kid will not answer these questions honestly so I imagine many others won’t either. What a waste of time.

+1

Not sure I would either.