instruments for measuring public satisfaction with the education
TRANSCRIPT
Instruments for Measuring Public Satisfaction with
the Education System in the U.S. and the U.K
This research aims to better understand how the international community
assess overall satisfaction with the education system by comparing
instruments used by the U.S. and the U.K.
Emad A. Mohammed
Why U.K. and U.S.
We chose these two countries because of the amount of efforts they employ to better understand their education systems. The U.K. for one is very competitive aiming to achieve global standards of education. They are very proactive in identifying key issues with the system and they invest substantial amount of resources to improve their international education ranking. As for the U.S. recently they have started to understand how much their education system is lacking. The
The U.K. Module
The Department for Education (DfE) compiles results from The Higher Education Fund Counsel
for England (HEFCE), The Office of Standards in Education (Ofsted), and The Skills Funding
Agency (SFA) along with its own research findings to measure holistically how the general public
view the education system in the country. The DfE is also an active participants of the OECD and
has participated in all of their surveys and poll regarding satisfaction with the education system.
HEFCE
The U21 Ranking of National Higher Education
Systems 2016 showed that whereas in 2015 the
U.K. ranked as the 8th best higher education
system, it jumped to 4th place by 2016
outperforming Finland and Sweden and making the
biggest jump of the year. When the same poll
adjusted the ranking system factoring in each
country’s GDP, the U.K. remarkably ranked first.
The same poll showed that the U.K. had made the
biggest improvement in their higher education
expenditure from 2015
Ofsted
Ofsted is the U.K. office responsible for inspecting and regulating primary and
secondary education and preschool
care services. They evaluate parent’s feedback regarding their children
schooling and survey both students and staff to evaluate their satisfaction
with the education system.
The U.K. ranks 20th in the global school ranking according to the OECD and 11th in
Europe. In an effort to improve their education the Ofsted now uses a unique
approach to evaluate parent’s satisfaction with the education system. Ofsted has
dedicated a website called Parent View where parents can take a survey evaluating
their children’s school and the education they receive.
The U.S. Module
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting
and analyzing data related to education in the U.S. and other nations. NCES is located within the
U.S. Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences. NCES fulfills a
Congressional mandate to collect, collate, analyze, and report complete statistics on the
condition of American education; conduct and publish reports; and review and report on
education activities internationally.
Early Childhood
• Early Childhood Longitudinal Study
Elementary/Secondary
• High School longitudinal Study
• Schools and Staffing Survey
• ED School Climate Surveys
Postsecondary
• Baccalaureate & Beyond Longitudinal Study
• National Study of Postsecondary Faculty
• Condition of Education Survey
IAP
The International Activities Program is the international branch
of the NCES. IAP coordinate with international organizations like
OECD to conduct surveys and compare results with other
nations. However, unlike the OECD, IAP works with G20
countries as well providing valuable education data from across
the globe.
The OECD
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is a
global organization aiming to promote policies that will improve economic
and social well-being. They are considered the most internationally
recognized organization when it comes to measuring education
performance and satisfaction. The Department for Education in the U.K.
worked closely with OECD to measure secondary school teacher’s
satisfaction, as well as, the overall satisfaction with the education system
in the U.K. The OECD administered the Teaching and Learning
International Survey (TALIS) as well as the Citizen satisfaction with public
Students Questionnaire – Instruments 1 and 2
To measure student’s satisfaction we found that the U.S. Education School
Climate Survey to be ideal for measuring student’s satisfaction with the
education system at elementary/secondary level. As for postsecondary
level we believe that using the U.K. National Students Survey will be the
best fit if we wish to specifically measure the student satisfaction level
with higher education.
Instrument 1: Education School Climate Survey (73 items)
Instrument 2: National Student Survey (30 items)
Parent Questionnaire – Instruments 3
To measure parent’s satisfaction we think that using the U.K. Ofsted
Parent View Survey would bring results that are specific to parent’s
satisfaction with pre-elementary-to-secondary level education system. As
for postsecondary/Higher education public institutions in both countries do
not have specific instruments to measure parent’s satisfaction at this stage
of education. In the U.S. however, there are some elements in their
longitudinal study that is aimed to measure how parent perceive the
quality of the education provided to their children at the postsecondary
level.
Teacher Questionnaire – Instruments 4 and 5
Overall in both countries, Teachers/ faculty satisfaction surveys are delivered in a
form similar to employee satisfaction surveys that are used to measure how
employees think of the institution they work on. However, we found that one of
the best instruments to measure teacher’s satisfaction with the education system
at all education level is the TALIS administered by the OECD as it has been used
to measure teacher’s satisfaction in OECD countries across the globe. But if an
elementary/secondary focused results are needed we found that the U.S.
Education School Climate: Instructional Staff Survey to be very effective.
Instrument 4: OECD: TALIS (49 items – 17 mathematic teachers’ items)
Instrument 5: EDSC: Instructional Staff Survey (82 items)
Citizen Poll – Instruments 6
There are no citizen national level survey that is specific to measuring
satisfaction with education administered by any of the countries in this study.
Instead, both the U.S. and the U.K. have faith in the results of the OECD-wide
Gallup-international-poll of OECD Citizens Satisfaction with Public Services which
features satisfaction with the justice, health, and education system.
Instrument 6: Gallup OECD Citizens Satisfaction with Public Services
International Pull (1 items)
Longitudinal vs. Cross-sectioned
The U.S. Module also integrate Satisfaction with education system in many
of its longitudinal studies. Unlike the U.K. Module the studies made by
NCES use a combination of telephone interviews and pen-and-paper
questionnaires. The U.S. statistic gathering method require some sort of
incentive to participate in because of the average number of items per
instrument is a lot higher in longitudinal studies which is the main style
that the NCES use to get data that can be compared across time. The U.K.
Department for Education however, actively solicit participation in their
nation-wide cross-sectioned surveys, which they try to make it short and
easy to ensure higher response rate.
Interest Groups
A common factor in these two countries methodology, is that they both
have specific surveys targeting a group of interest. The following groups
have been mentioned in more than one survey and should be considered
when measuring overall satisfaction:Ethnic and racial groups
Immigrants
Children with disability
Homeschooled children
Rural schools students and teachers
Females
Indicators of Satisfaction
Besides measuring satisfaction from self-reported questionnaires,
both the U.K. Department for Education and the U.S. Department
of Education uses indicators of satisfaction to assess, in a more
objective way, the overall satisfaction level of the population.
Some repeatedly reported indicators of satisfaction with the
education system in these two countries are as following:
Student’s dropout and completion rates
Engagement of ethnic and racial minorities
Student’s enrollment rate
Salaries of teachers
Teachers retention rate
School crimes and safety rates
Diversity of staff and students
The quality of education outcomes
The financial stability of private institutions
Conclusion
• To better assess satisfaction with education it could prove helpful to identify social groups of
interest to understand how they feel about the process of education.
• It is important to consider relevant indicators such as enrollment, dropout, and teacher’s
retention rates as well as the other indicators specified above to reach a more objective
interpretation of the national perception of education system.
• Using a combination of longitudinal and cross-sectional data helps in understanding how public
perception of the education system changes with respect to time and space.
• Using a short and objective questionnaire well have higher participation rate and would be easier
and cheaper to administer. However, long survey questionnaires can generate more data and are
recommended to be used in the context of measuring satisfaction level with a specific target
group.
• Both countries have institutions that are dedicated to ensuring digestion, quality, and overall
public satisfaction with the education system, which means that more resources should be
allocated to study the system in order to make better informed policies and change public
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