2007-2008 School Year TeLL Maine Survey Data Available

INFORMATIONAL LETTER: 98
POLICY CODE: ILD

TO:                Superintendents of Schools, Principals, Curriculum Directors, and Special Education Directors
FROM:          Susan Gendron, Commissioner
DATE:           April 28, 2008

SUBJECT: 2007-2008 School Year TeLL Maine Survey Data Available

This winter, in partnership with the Maine Education Association, the Maine Department of Education provided all certified school professionals the opportunity to take part in an anonymous perceptual survey of the teaching, leadership, and learning conditions in their schools. The Teaching, Leading and Learning Survey provides data to help Maine schools balance efforts to improve student achievement with other school reform agendas. Completed by more than 5,000 educators (27%) from across the State, the survey provides customized reports for 159 schools and 35 units. These data provide a unique, statewide snapshot of the teaching and learning conditions existing in Maine schools as represented by the perceptions of those who understand these conditions best—the educators who teach in them every day. Collecting and analyzing this data allows for data-driven conversations regarding the integration of working conditions reform and school improvement planning. Moving from data to action is contingent upon schools using data appropriately and committing to a sustained reform effort. An online accessible tool will provide guidance for educators to effectively use their data.

The goal of the Maine Education Association and the Maine Department of Education in joining together to facilitate the TeLL survey was to examine teaching and learning conditions to evaluate whether or not there is a correlation between the two. The preliminary data, now available at www.TeLLMaine.org will eventually be correlated with student data to see what correlations can be drawn from such data. In the meantime, enclosed is a link to a tool to assist you in beginning conversations about what the data tell you at this point. To aid in further discussions as more data becomes available, MEA and the DOE are planning an event next Fall for teams from the school buildings and units which met the pre-set participation rate of 40%. More information will be shared with you as it becomes available.

With the completion of the TeLL survey, the preliminary data is now available for the State, with more specific data available for the school buildings and local school units which met the minimum 40% participation rate. Please recall that all responses were anonymous and required a unique code for participation. For buildings that met the 40% response rate, the data are intended to be available to those employees in the particular building and access requires a unique access code. For units that met the required 40% response rate, the participation rate data can be viewed by any employee in the unit using the unit’s unique access code. For purposes of clarification, when an employee from a building with 40% or greater participation rate accesses the building data, the unit and State data will also be shown. For employees in buildings not reaching 40%, staff can view the unit data by using a unit access code. Anyone may access the overall State data.

Thank you for your efforts to encourage participation in the TeLL survey!

For a list of school building and school units that met the 40% response rate please go to: http://www.tellmaine.org/reports/
or contact: Cheryl Lunde, clunde@nea.org

To receive your school building’s or unit’s access code please contact: Cheryl Lunde, clunde@nea.org , 1-207-622-5866 or 1-888-622-4418 ext. 2213.

Please direct any questions regarding The TeLL Survey to Ellen Holmes, 624-6879, ellen.holmes@maine.gov