About the Toolkit


This toolkit is designed to help you use the information that was collected on the Student Connection Survey. The toolkit does four main things: 1) presents your school's survey results, 2) houses a database of evidence-based programs and strategies for addressing student connection issues, 3) provides advice for how to look at data, implement programs, and take the next steps, and 4) provides a forum for offering comments or quotes about your personal experiences with a program or strategy.

1) Student Connection Results

When you log in to the toolkit, you will find the survey results for your school. The survey measures four elements of student connection:

  1. Safe and Respectful Climate
  2. Academic Rigor
  3. Student Support
  4. Social and Emotional Learning

 

Your school's results for each of these areas are presented in the toolkit. Results are stated as the percentage of students who rated your school as excellent, adequate, or in need of improvement for each element. The toolkit also presents results by groups of students (racial/ethnic groups, gender, grade levels, students with disabilities, English language learners. and students enrolled in the free and reduced price lunch program). For these groups, the results shown are the percentage of students in each group rating your school as adequate or better. More detailed results may be found in the score report that was sent to your school.

2) Database of Evidence-Based Programs and Strategies

This toolkit presents your survey results alongside a data base of evidence-based programs and strategies-as well as local, Chicago-specific programs-that you can use to address needs that were identified by the survey.

Each program and strategy entry in the database is represented by three kinds of information:

  • Level of intervention
  • Whether CPS resources are available to support this program or strategy
  • Applicable grade levels

 

Levels of intervention refer to whether the program or strategy work at the prevention/development level (any/all students), early/selective level (targeted students), or at the intensive intervention level (those students who have high levels of need). These levels are frequently represented using a "triangle diagram"; a triangle icon is used in each program or strategy database entry to indicate the level at which that initiative could be applied.

Prevention/Development
This level of intervention serves as a schoolwide foundation and could apply to any or every student in the school. These interventions can be preventative, and teach the skills that may enable students and schools to avoid developing problems.

Early/Selective Intervention
This level of intervention provides services for a targeted group of students. The services are applied to targeted groups of students to address risk factors or build protective factors for those students.

Intensive Intervention
This level of intervention provides intensive interventions for those few students in a school who have high levels of need.

Approval refers to whether CPS resources are available to help support implementation of a given program or strategy. National programs that are supported by CPS and are included in this toolkit are AVID, PBIS, and Second Step.

Grade levels refer to the specific grade levels for which a particular program or strategy is applicable. Some are relevant for all grade levels (such as character education or positive behavioral supports); others apply to specific grades (such as Step Up to High School, which applies only to 9th graders).

After this basic information, each program or strategy has a "quick tips" page that presents a summary of all of the relevant information, including:

  • A statement of which survey elements this program or strategy addresses
  • Description of the program or strategy
  • My Voice, My School--What CPS community members say about the program or strategy. We are still working on the development piece. AVID, Second Step, Character Education, Transition Support, School Based Mentoring, and Service Learning all have entries under this component. For information on how you can contribute to My Voice, My School, see the heading below.
  • What research says about it
  • A summary of how the program works; which components are important for effectiveness
  • Frequently asked questions (FAQs):
    1. What resources will I need to implement this program at my school?
    2. What are the essentials of implementation?
    3. How do I implement this program at my school?
    4. Are there cultural or language supports/adaptations available?
  • Information about where you can get further support at CPS or elsewhere

     

Each of these pieces of information is explained at greater length on the "tabbed" web pages within each program or strategy write-up.

3) Advice and Suggestions

The toolkit also contains suggestions for using your data and implementing programs or strategies effectively. These may be found in the tabbed sections for the main toolkit. Areas in which suggestions are presented include:

  • How to use survey data
  • Implementation suggestions
  • Resources

     

4) My Voice, My School

Members of the CPS community are encouraged to enter their comments about the programs and strategies contained in this toolkit. On the "My Voice, My School" tab, there is an online form where users can share their experiences. You will be asked to enter your name, contact information (phone or e-mail), your role, and your school. Then you may enter your comment. Your entry will be forwarded to the CPS toolkit administrator for review and publication to the toolkit.

The goal for including "My Voice, My School" is to build a local source of information about what works for addressing student connection.