Why are we doing this? What's in it for me as a teacher?
Creating a work environment that maximizes your success and the success of our students is critically important to our school district. You are the greatest resource we have. Your insights about our work environment are essential to help us better understand how to improve our workplace. To gather this valuable input, we are engaging with Alaska education consultants in a year-long study called TOP.
TOP applies a third-party, research-based, systems model to understand and track educator insights regarding your professional environment throughout the school year and share those results with you as respondents and us as school district leaders. The goals are to increase teacher success, strengthen organizational clarity, and improve leadership focus. TOP allows superintendents to hear directly from employees. Your input is not filtered or interpreted by others while still remaining confidential. This process is a great way for leadership to understand the experience employees are having in their school and classroom.
What does it look like? What does it entail? What will TOP be asking?
TOP uses short, online surveys throughout the school year. Multiple choice questions revolve around your work environment, community, classroom practice, quality of life, and ways for strengthening the educator workforce in our district. You will have a chance to provide comments as well. Your participation is voluntary, and your responses are confidential. The district will never have access to your individual responses or comments.
How is TOP going to do this? When will it happen?
The TOP research team will send you three or four surveys throughout the year, depending on your district's decision, each taking about 15 minutes. Surveys will be administered online using SurveyMonkey. You will receive an email invitation to participate each time using your district provided email address.
How do I participate? What is my responsibility?
Your participation in all surveys provides the most meaningful data for district understanding. Your participation is voluntary and extremely valuable. The consultants may offer a participation incentive for each survey or for all surveys or both. The TOP research team will never share information with your district or anyone else that identifies you individually. Any information that is obtained in connection with this study that can be linked to you or identify you will be kept confidential by the TOP research team.
The data and results from this study could be used in reports, publications, or presentations, but you will not be individually identified. Pseudonyms will be used in all reports to protect your privacy and confidentiality. In addition, the TOP team will ensure that any information obtained about you from the study will be kept strictly confidential and that any information with your name attached will not be shared with anyone outside the TOP research team.