I recently participated in a half–day advisory board meeting in which Teach for America shared its new approach to coaching recruits. It was a treat to learn more about the Cultivate Survey, developed by my colleague Camille Farrington who manages the UChicago Consortium on School Research. Camille is currently adapting the survey for use by TFA coaches to use with new corps members.
The Cultivate Survey is an innovative way to gauge variation in how students experience their classroom learning conditions and, equally important, demonstrate how those conditions shape their mindsets, motivation, and use of learning strategies. The survey takes 15-20 minutes to complete and is taken by middle and high school students twice a year. Rather than being asked general questions about their school experiences, students are randomly assigned to respond to questions about one of their classes each year (e.g., math or ELA). This unique approach generates data that can be used to prioritize efforts to fine tune learning conditions by subject area and by grade-level...