The following survey is designed to collect data from across the nation about factors that have an impact on the continuous improvement of the public schools. Please complete the survey and return before October 31, 2000. Results of the survey will be presented at AASA’s annual convention and in the Winter 2001 HML Newsletter.

From the list of twenty possible factors impacting your community’s public schools, what five do you believe to be the most harmful to continuous improvement? Circle the five (5) factors you believe are impacting your school‘s efforts to improve.

1. Inability of the citizens to tax themselves to the degree required to provide an educational opportunity equal to that available to most other students in the state. Perceived lack of a local tax base to levy a fair tax rate for the public schools of the community.
2. Inability of the school board to make decisions. Perceived lack of ability to agree on some common goals and policies to guide the schools.
3. Inability of the school’s administrators to make decisions. Perceived lack of leadership of the schools.
4. Recent court decisions regarding school funding. Perceived inability to direct the resources to improve the schools because of other court mandated programs and services.
5. Inability of the community to deal with social issues. Perceived inability of the community to respond to the social needs such as adequate health care, childcare, and mental health services.
6. Decline of the family’s responsibility to prepare their children for school. Perceived decline of the family structure to the degree that children are entering school unprepared to learn nor have sufficient social skills.
7. Growing influence of special interest groups. Perceived power and influence of special interest groups to impose their curriculum, instructional practices, or political/religious beliefs on the schools.
8. Inability to employ or retain sufficient qualified personnel to carry out the programs or services. Perceived lack of having enough personnel to deliver the instruction or school service.
9. Inability to attract highly qualified teachers to the community. Perceived low salaries or poor working conditions for teachers and administrators.
10. Growing influence of professional teacher unions. Perceived strength of the teachers’ union at the local, state and national levels to impede school change.
11. Increasing number of students enrolling in private schools or home schooling. Perceived decline in enrollment and resulting decline of financial resources to offer school programs and services.
12. Growing disrespect for the legitimate school administrator’s authority. Perceived inability or fear of teachers to appropriately discipline students for misbehavior at school.
13. Growing citizens’ reluctance to change structure of their schools. Perceived resistance to changing the traditional school calendar, grade organizational structure, or instructional practices.
14. Increasing amount of negative media reports about the schools. Perceived perpetuated negative myths of the quality of public education.
15. Inability of teachers and administrators to adjust to change. Perceived resistance to the traditional school practices by teachers and administrators. An inability to see schools differently.
16. Growing bureaucracy in the operations of the schools. Perceived need to comply with the bureaucratic regulations and reports required by the district office or the state department of education.
17. Increasing rejection of the "representative" form of school governance. Perceived lack of confidence in having the elected representatives (e.g., the school board) to make good decisions.
18. Inability of the state legislature to properly fund public education. Perceived limited ability of the state legislature to properly fund the public schools of the state.
19. Inability to acquire the resources to following through on staff development. Perceived lack of time or resources to properly prepare and follow through on school innovative practices.
20. Growing emphasis on student testing against standards. Perceived growing emphasis on testing and meeting accountability standards to the degree that the teacher’s creativity in presenting information is compromised.

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Please FAX 402 554 2722 this form, email the numbers of your five choices to jack_mckay@unomaha.edu, or mail this form to Dr. Jack McKay, Exec. Dir.; The Horace Mann League; UNO-KH 414; Omaha, NE 68182-0162.