We Heard From You!
Results from the Fall 2022 Teacher Survey
In the Fall of 2022, nearly 2,000 pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teachers completed the VKRP Teacher Feedback Survey! Thank you! Your feedback continues to be invaluable as we are always striving at VKRP to improve the system and your experience. In this blog, we report on the results of that survey and outline how VKRP and VDOE are putting your feedback into action.
The Fall 2022 Teacher Feedback Survey included questions specifically related to teachers’ experiences with the VKRP assessments, reports, and resources. We also asked teachers about how they shared VKRP data and resources with families.
For some questions, teachers chose a rating from a rating scale, and for other questions, we asked teachers to provide open-ended, written feedback. Some questions were asked of both pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teachers, and others were asked of only one grade or the other.
VKRP Assessment Feedback
Pre-kindergarten teachers only were asked for feedback on the Early Mathematics Assessment System (EMAS) mathematics measure, the Child Behavior Rating Scale (CBRS), which is a teacher report measure of students’ self-regulation and social skills, and teacher report items on students’ mental health well-being.
Early Mathematics Assessment System (EMAS)
- Pre-kindergarten teachers agreed that they understood that there were different assessment versions for 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds.
- Pre-kindergarten teachers felt that students had some difficulty staying engaged throughout the full assessment.
Child Behavior Rating Scale (CBRS)
- Teachers agreed that they knew their students well enough to answer questions on the CBRS.
- Teachers agreed that the mental health well-being items were useful.
VKRP Reports and Resources Feedback
Pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teachers shared the different ways they used the VKRP reports. The figure below illustrates the percentage of pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teachers who reported using reports in different ways.
Many pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teachers used the VKRP data and reports to inform discussions with families, identify content to cover in class and tailor instruction to meet students’ needs.
Pre-kindergarten teachers were also asked a series of questions about the newly available
Skill Development Bands. Overall, pre-kindergarten teachers agreed that the Skill
Development Bands were easy to understand and that they used them to help
support children in their classroom.
Next, we asked an open-ended question about how pre-kindergarten teachers used the bands in the fall. Teachers reported using the Skill Development Bands to:
- form small groups for instruction
- inform lesson planning
- plan individualized supports for children
- inform teacher-family meetings
They helped me to quickly identify strengths and weaknesses and allowed me to group the children appropriately.
Sharing VKRP Data and Resources with Families
Pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teachers were asked a series of closed- and open-ended questions related to how they shared VKRP data with families.
Around 60% of pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teachers reported that they met with families about the VKRP data. And, teachers reported using VKRP data to support family meetings.
I used them with explaining to parents where their child is during family conferences.
Pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teachers also reported on the different ways that they shared VKRP resources with families. In the figure below, you can see the different ways that VKRP resources were shared with families. Most teachers shared that they discussed the VKRP resources with families during one-on-one meetings.
Putting Feedback into Action
After reviewing the feedback provided in the Fall 2022 Teacher Survey, VKRP, in collaboration with VDOE, has identified some key next steps to put the feedback into action.
Continue to provide implementation support. VKRP will continue to support pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teachers’ implementation of VKRP by providing in-person, remote, and online training, resources, and information for teachers as well as school-level and division-level administrators. VKRP will continue to partner with programs, schools, and divisions on how to conduct assessments that are engaging for students and use their growth data to promote student skill development over time.
Improve reports and resources for families. VKRP will continue to gather data this spring and summer from families and teachers to learn more about what school readiness means to families and how to improve the VKRP family reports and resources.
Improve data use resources for teachers. VKRP will continue to convene data use experts, administrators, and teachers to gather information and best approaches to understanding and using data. This information will be used to develop an improved suite of online, asynchronous resources to help schools, programs and teachers use the VKRP data to inform practice and support students’ development.
We are grateful for your feedback and strive to continue to use it to make meaningful improvements to VKRP.
More Questions for the VKRP Team? VKRP provides support via the online chat feature when you are in the system, via email vkrp@virginia.edu, and via toll free 866-301-8278
