By Jennifer Rice Epstein
The Long Beach Unified School District this week began collecting data through its CORE Survey, intended to gather information on school quality and social-emotional development from parents, staff and students in grades 4 to 12.
The survey was devised by CORE — an independent nonprofit made up of nine California school districts — in partnership with education experts from Stanford and Harvard universities.
“It’s a deep dive into what’s really happening,” John McDonald, communications consultant for CORE, said.
The CORE survey differs from most accountability systems in that it’s not mandated by an outside body or tied to funding, LBUSD spokesman Chris Eftychiou said.
“The consensus was, we need a better way to measure school performance,” he said. “Not punitive, but supportive.”
The survey asks parents and caregivers whether their school provides high quality instruction to students and if discipline at their child’s school is fair. But the 13-item questionnaire also digs into more nebulous territory with questions addressing whether the child’s background (race, ethnicity, economic status) is respected, and whether the neighborhood surrounding the school is safe.
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