Frequently Asked Questions

Students connect to www.ourschool.net with a randomly generated login. Their login automatically directs them to the appropriate survey. 

 

The term Snapshot is meant to inform users that you can use up to two surveys per school year, however it is common to only survey once per school year. Ordinarily, each surveying window or period will last for up to four weeks and all students are invited to participate in each period.

After each survey period is completed and the survey is closed, school administrators will be provided with reports based on the results for that survey period. If two survey periods are used, two sets of reports will be provided. This description is general for standard survey setups.

Particular projects and research initiatives may differ slightly.Please contact your project or District Coordinator if you have any questions.

 

Not to worry! To have extra codes added, contact the Helpdesk (support@thelearningbar.com or 1-877-840-2424 ext. 1) with the following information:

1. The name of the survey that requires more login codes
2. The number of codes required
3. The reason for the codes. e.g. lost codes, more students than expected.

For more information, see Distributing Survey Accounts to Participants. 

In the View Reports menu you can view reports from previous years by selecting the appropriate school year at the top of the screen.

See Comparing Results: Year Over Year for more information.

Note: If you do not have access to your school’s reports because you are new to the role or of coordinator have moved schools, please contact your District Coordinator.

Yes! The survey has been recently updated to have adaptive display functionality, allowing the survey to be completed using smartphones, tablets or other internet-enabled mobile devices. We recommend using a screen 4 inches or bigger.

You can read more details in our article: Using OurSCHOOL with mobile devices

The requirement of consent from students and/or parents would depend on laws outlined in your jurisdiction. However, as the OurSCHOOL system deals exclusively within anonymous student data, it typically does not require express consent as defined in most privacy legislation.

Although parent consent may not be required, we strongly recommend that you inform parents and guardians about the OurSCHOOL Survey. See Student Survey - Letter to Parents for a basic template and Communication and Student Preparation for more general resources

Deadlines are set by your district, sometimes based on provincial survey periods, and are usually communicated by your District Coordinator. We recommend that you contact them directly if you have any concerns. If you are unsure who this is, see Finding Your District Coordinator.

Unless otherwise stated by your District Coordinator, surveys will remain open until June 30th or until manually closed by the School Coordinator. For more information, see Closing Surveys.

No, it is not possible to identify individual survey participants. Survey participants are never asked to provide personally identifiable information (i.e., name, email / mailing address, phone number, student ID, etc).

All anonymous survey responses are aggregated when reported to the school or district. In addition to not collecting personally identifiable information, individual anonymity is further protected by setting a minimum number of responses required in order to report a result for any population. The reporting procedures follow Statistics Canada’s standard of not reporting aggregate results which include less than 5 cases.

Survey length depends on how much content is included in the survey. This is determined by your District Coordinator, sometimes based on provincial requirements.  We recommend that you contact them directly if you have any concerns. If you are unsure who this is, see Finding Your District Coordinator. 

It is usually possible to reopen a closed survey, however in some cases permission from the District Coordinator is required. We request that you contact them first if you would like to reopen a previously closed survey. If you are unsure who this is, see Finding Your District Coordinator.

Adding custom questions to your Parent Survey allows schools to collect the voice and experiences of school families on issues specific to your school.

Schools can add up to two optional Open-Ended Questions (OEQs) as well as up to two optional Multiple-Choice or Multiple Answer Questions (MCQs/MAQs). For details on how to configure your Parent Survey follow the instructions in this link.

Did you know?
A guide to creating custom questions is available here, as well as some sample custom questions here.

The OurSCHOOL Parent Survey is a comprehensive survey that is based on Joyce Epstein’s framework for fostering positive relations between the school and the community and captures parents’ perceptions of children’s experiences at home and school. The survey measures these topics as well as the extent to which parents feel the school supports learning and positive behavior and whether the school promotes a safe and inclusive environment.

These articles provide detailed descriptions of all 10 measures, as well as the method of calculating and reporting for each.

Sharing your Survey login URL is up to each school individually. However, using multiple mediums to notify parents and guardians of the survey can encourage a much higher response rate. Here are some examples that other OurSCHOOL members have used:

• social media
• emails
• parent-teacher interviews
• school website
• Newsletters.

For more examples please read our Strategies for Increasing Parent Survey Participation article. Please note that sharing your unique Parent Survey URL to any publicly shared media does open up access to the public.

Schools can use the OurSCHOOL Teacher Survey with school teaching staff from Kindergarten to Grade 12 even if your school does not use the OurSCHOOL Student Survey.

Currently, the OurSCHOOL survey is developed for teachers only. There are plans to expand on this in the future. Feel free to connect with us for more information.

Teacher can access the survey through a unique link that will be provided by the school. School Coordinators will be able to customize their schools URL when completing the survey setup.

Guided by the two research paradigms, the OurSCHOOL Teacher Survey provides data on 12 measures that schools and educators can use to improve student outcomes.

These articles provide detailed descriptions of all 12 measures, as well as the method of calculating and reporting for each. A summary of the research literature that supports the importance of each measure is also included.

Adding custom questions to your Teacher Survey allows schools to collect the voice and experiences of school families on issues specific to your school.

Schools can add up to two optional Open-Ended Questions (OEQs) as well as up to two optional Multiple-Choice or Multiple Answer Questions (MCQs/MAQs). For details on how to configure your Teacher Survey follow the instructions in this link.

Did you know?
A guide to creating custom questions is available here, as well as some sample custom questions here.

You can set up a master login link for staff to use while activating the survey, please follow the steps outlined in our How to Implement the Staff Survey article. Once your Staff Survey is activated you can circulate the special link to your staff, all participants will then automatically be logged into the OurSCHOOL Staff Survey for their school without the need of a username and password.

The Staff Survey is meant to capture the voices of your entire school community, and is intended for administration, teaching, and support staff as the content is focused on interactions within the school environment. A number of items on the survey reference school leaders and contains language that includes ‘at my school’, therefore we strongly recommend that school leaders also participate in the survey. Participants can be any full-time, part-time or occasional, staff member. Our goal is to gather feedback from everyone to ensure all voices are heard!

Yes! Each of our surveys (student, parent, staff, and teacher) all come with the ability to add additional questions to help customize the survey to meet the unique context of your school. You can add up to two open ended questions and up to two multiple choice/answer questions to each survey. Our Research team can work with you to develop questions that will ensure you obtain actionable data that can be used to inform your planning.

Absolutely! Both surveys have different areas of focus, so you can certainly have your teaching staff complete each survey depending upon your needs. If you choose to use both surveys, we would encourage you to administer the surveys at different time points to avoid survey fatigue.

While the Teacher Survey focuses more heavily on classroom and school effectiveness, the Staff Survey is focused on topics related to positive school climate including safety and well-being. The Staff Survey is also inclusive of all staff within your school.

It is anticipated that the Staff Survey will take approximately 15-20 minutes on average to complete.

Norms for the Staff Survey will be available when a sufficient and representative sample of data is obtained (e.g., from various provinces, districts, schools and demographic profiles). When these have been made available we will communicate their release.

Our new expanded services include the ability for divisions to do even more with their student data. Linked confidential surveying, as opposed to an anonymous survey, are linked at the individual student level.

Collecting linked data unlocks the ability to correlate each student’s perception data with learning outcomes such as standardized test scores or graduation. This holistic perspective opens a world of possibilities for better supporting the development and learning of all students. Many divisions are already using their linked data to identify and address systemic disparities in educational outcomes (as per Ontario’s Anti-Racism Act / Demographic Data Project requirements); or to analyze the predictive relationship between OurSCHOOL’s leading indicators (e.g., well-being, engagement, social emotional learning) and other forms of educational data.

This new option reinforces our goal of ensuring that every division has the right data needed to make evidence-based decisions and best meet the needs of their students.

Clients who have purchased the linked survey can then upload the data directly to their Student Information System, data warehouse or dashboard platform (e.g., PowerSchool, Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, etc.)

An anonymous survey cannot be traced back to an individual participant. This survey does not ask for a name, or student ID number, so participants' answers cannot be connected to them. Answers for the entire grade or school are always combined and displayed together, so no one will ever see individual students’ answers. Responses to the survey questions are sent over a secure and encrypted channel where they are then combined with the answers of other students to ensure anonymity.

A confidential survey is the option to collect OurSCHOOL data in a form that allows an individual student’s survey responses to be directly linked with other forms of educational data (e.g., achievement, graduation rates, attendance, etc.). When collected this way, the data is not anonymous but is confidential as survey responses can be associated with a specific individual.

It is important to note that participation in either survey is always voluntary. The student decides which questions to respond to and which not. They can always skip questions if they do not feel comfortable answering.

We suggest adopting an Opt-Out method for informing parents and caregivers about the upcoming survey. See our Letter to Parents Linked survey information template that can be edited and customized to meet your needs.

At the beginning of each survey the participant will be informed that they will be asked a number of questions about their experiences at home and at school. Some of the questions are about how they feel about themself and their relationships with others. They are also informed that they will be asked questions about family background so that the district can understand how their experience at school may differ from their peers.

The presurvey description will also verify to them that they can skip any questions that they feel might be too personal and they then do not feel comfortable answering.

At this time participants will select “I understand and am ready to start”.

When OurSCHOOL data is collected confidentially, it will likely cause questions and concerns among students and parents /caregivers about why it is being done and how the data will be used. It is critical to invest in communicating the purpose and benefits of why the data is being collected.

Building trust through open communication is the best path to ensuring a successful linked data implementation. Some best practices used successfully by other clients in AU and CA:

• Using multiple channels including morning announcements, newsletters, media articles, letters home to parents, etc
• Open a channel to someone at the division who can help address specific questions about the initiative
• Inviting discussion at a public town hall or parent committee meeting
• Once the data is in, providing examples of how the data was used to successfully foster change

Focus communications on how the data will be used to inform positive change at the school and district level. Emphasize how honest responses are needed in order to make the best decisions possible.

Provide transparency into exactly what data is being captured within the survey (e.g., well-being and engagement perceptions).

Remind students and parents/caregivers that the survey is optional and they do not need to participate if they choose not to.

Inform participants that, although the results are confidential at the division level, they will remain fully anonymous at the school level. 

We suggest adopting an Opt-Out method for informing parents and caregivers about the upcoming survey. See our Letter to Parents Linked survey information template that can be edited and customized to meet your needs.

To support confidential linked data collection, we have invested in technology infrastructure and internal policies and protocols to ensure that the governance of personally-identifiable student data meets or exceeds all relevant legislative requirements.

The Learning Bar is guided by the rules and regulations set forth by the Canadian Research Ethics Board and Tri-Council policies concerning the respect for persons, concern for welfare, and justice.

All data will reside fully within Canadian borders at all times.

We do not sell, rent, trade or share any student data.