TI Foundation STEM Implementation Grant

YouthTruth is a national nonprofit organization that gathers student, staff, and parent/guardian feedback to help make schools stronger. They have surveyed staff, parents, and over 3 million students across 42 states. YouthTruth’s surveys have been rigorously tested for validity and reliability and are grounded in research about what matters most for student success.

Visit YouthTruth Website

The YouthTruth Survey is being administered as a formal way to gather perception data regarding STEM-related culture and learning in Sherman ISD so that we can learn and grow and provide the best experience for our students. Additionally, efforts to improve school culture and student achievement should also be informed by family perceptions. Feedback from a diverse range of community members can serve as an actionable, real‐time barometer of factors that influence student success. 

Students in Grades 3 and above are eligible to take the student survey. The family survey is available for parents and guardians of all students, grades K-12.

The YouthTruth Survey gives students and family members the opportunity to provide feedback on topics like culture, relationships, and engagement.

Review Questions

The student survey should be administered during a pre-determined 45 minute window during the school day. The family survey will take about 15 minutes to complete.

The survey is available online and is compatible with any internet-enabled device including desktops, laptops, Chromebooks, tablets/iPads, or smartphones. The student survey is available in English and Spanish. The family survey is available in English, Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, and French. English and Spanish surveys include text-to-speech. 

No, survey responses are confidential. YouthTruth will analyze feedback and share it back in aggregate in an online interactive report that will be delivered to school and district leadership shortly after surveying (usually in about 10 business days). There are opportunities for the respondent to answer open-ended questions in their own words, at which point YouthTruth provides a reminder not to include any information that can potentially be identifying.

It is valuable to understand potential differences in experiences as we strive to create schools that serve all students, and the optional demographic questions (such as gender, race/ethnicity, grade-level, etc.) allow us to understand how students and parents/guardians of different demographic backgrounds are experiencing school in relation to other groups. All questions on the survey can be skipped if a respondent prefers not to answer.