CORE Survey

CORE Survey

As part of our CORE accountability plan, the Long Beach Unified School District surveys parents, staff and students in grades 4-12 on a range of school climate indicators that have been found to predict positive student academic achievement. The indicators fall under four broad areas of focus: Teaching and Learning, Knowledge of Discipline/Rules/Norms, Safety, and Sense of Belonging.  LBUSD also supplements the climate survey with sections on Attendance, Safe and Civil Education, AP Courses (High school students only) and Technology.

In addition to school culture and climate, we also assess the social-emotional learning of students.  Based on compelling research and our own experience as educators, social-emotional competencies like self-management and developing a positive/growth mindset are an important complement to academic preparation in helping our students succeed in college, career, and life. A national teacher survey conducted in 2013 shows that 93% of teachers think it is very or fairly important for schools to promote the development of social-emotional competencies. Furthermore, 95% of teachers believe that these skills are teachable, and 97% believe they will benefit students from all backgrounds.

Six social-emotional competencies are included on the survey: growth mindset, self-efficacy, self-management, and social awareness—new for 2020 are relationship skills and responsible decision-making. These six competencies were selected based on research about the importance, measurability, and actionability of each competency as well as the lived experience of educators within each district.

Students in grades four to twelve will be asked to self-report on a series of behaviors (e.g., coming to class prepared, following directions) and beliefs (e.g., whether it is more important to be talented or to put forth a lot of effort), that, taken together, have been validated as indicators of social-emotional skills