Media Advisory: The National School Boards Association’s Council of Urban Boards of Education to Release “What We Think”

An In-Depth Research Study on Urban School Climate

The National School Boards Association’s Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE) will release, in an online webinar, the findings of a major research study, What We Think, which surveyed how parents feel about their urban school environments. This survey is a follow-up to two previous school climate surveys by CUBE, Where We Learn, which surveyed how students feel about their urban school climate, and Where We Teach, which surveyed teachers and administrators.

A total of 10,270 parents in 112 urban schools from 17 states answered the survey, which gauged their perceptions about bullying; expectations of student success; influence of race; parental involvement; safety; and trust, respect, and ethos of caring. Especially striking was the number of male parents participating, nearly 30 percent of the respondents. The online news conference will present highlights of the research findings as well as implications from all three of the school climate studies.

MAJOR FINDINGS:            

The full report, What We Think, is now available online for reporters only and is embargoed until 12:01 a.m. April 30, 2008. Major findings follow: 

• Parents believe their child’s school to be a safe place.   The majority of parents surveyed viewed their child’s school as a safe place. However, only 42 percent of parents surveyed disagreed that students fight at lot at school. Forty percent of parents were not sure when asked about students carrying guns or knives to school.
• The majority of parents are actively involved in their child’s school. Three-quarters of parents agreed that they visited their child’s school to support activities. 
• Parents’ believe that their children can achieve and are proud of their accomplishments. The vast majority of parents agreed that their children were capable of performing very well on standardized exams. Additionally, the majority of parents agreed that their children would pursue opportunities in higher education at the community college or university level. Ninety-seven percent of parents were proud of their children. 
• Teachers and administrators have gained parents’ trust and make them feel respected.   The majority of parents (84%) felt that they could trust the teachers at their child’s school. The majority (87%) also felt respected by the teachers. Parents agreed that they felt respected by administrators at their child’s school (83%).
• Bullying continues to be an issue at school. Little more than half of the parents surveyed felt that teachers had the ability to stop bullying, with close to 30 percent not sure if this was possible. More than 25 percent of parents have spoken to an administrator about bullying. Parents with students in the middle grades (6-8) were the largest group (nearly 11 percent) to report that their child was bullied during the school day at least once per month.
• Parent views vary about the degree of safety in their neighborhoods. The majority of parents (49%) indicated that there had not been violent crimes within their immediate neighborhoods in the past six months, while a quarter of them indicated that there had been. 
• Racial differences are not viewed to have an impact on a child’s success at school. Race is not a factor in the success of children in their child’s school, according to the majority of parents (70%). 

RESPOND:     If you would like to interview the principal investigator or any of the news conference participants in advance, please contact Linda Embrey by e-mailing lembrey@nsba.org or calling NSBA’s press office at 703-838-6737. If you are planning to participate in the online news conference, please register by clicking here and contact NSBA’s press office.

Communications Office, NSBA, 703-838-6737; lembrey@nsba.org